Bottled Self Esteem
by justcallmelucifer
Summary: He asked her every time if she was okay. She lost her dog. Okay. She burnt dinner. Okay. Her materia was stolen. Wutai was collapsing. Her father was desperate. She never was really okay, was she? Yuffentine. FFVIIverse.
1. Prologue

_I never make author notes at the top of stories. But I am now. I have 85% of this story completed as of right now, September 1st, 2011. Oh, and I turn 15 in two days. But that is unimportan_

_This story uses strong language. Please commence reading._

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><p><em>Together<em>_**:**_ in or into one place, mass, collection, or group the men get _together_ every Thursday for poker

It was funny, because sometimes Cid would pull out his old deck of cards and pour some straight vodka and force Cloud to play poker with him. It was funny, because Cloud absolutely _sucked _at it and Barrett couldn't hold a deck of cards with his massive fingers. It was funny, because Vincent could actually play.

I asked him to teach me once, but all he did was turn away and continue brooding into the wall. But that was okay; everyone ignored me for the wall. It was sexier than me, I get it.

I looked down at myself. My entire body resembled a wall. It was all flat, like a valley of flatness in between Tifa's boobs and Barrett's muscles. I was tiny. Still, I was tiny, at the age of twenty. I was twenty freaking years old, believe it or not. It sounded too old for me and didn't like it. I missed being sixteen and wearing shirts that looked like sport bras. Maybe they were sport bras but I didn't even need a bra so they were big on me. And maybe my shorts were underwear. And maybe the thing I wore on my arm was the thing that covered me up the most.

Maybe I should wear pants. Oh, wait, I was! I, Yuffie Kisaragi, was wearing pants. Full, long, pants that covered all of my legs to the socks than popped out of my sneakers. They were tight, duh, all the way down to the ankle, but they were still pants. And I actually liked them. Tifa gave them to me when we had to go to her practice wedding ceremony thing. It was weird and their practice cake accidentally said "Congratulations Cloud and Carol!"

But I was wearing pants and I looked good. So I decided to go show them to Barrett.

"Barrett!" I exclaimed, in my normal and happy expression, "Look! Pants!"

The said (black) man turned from his scrubbing of the metal on his arm to look at me. He just stared at me for awhile and then his eyes traveled downward and downward and I thought he was going to be checking out my nonexistent boobs for awhile but then his eyes reached my pants. His eyes shot back up to mine and I smiled wide.

"Congrats, ya lil' squirt. Maybe ya should go talk to Cloud and Vincent and Reeve and ya'll can go have a little party about everyone who's ever worn some _fucking pants in this world," _he said.

My first thought was: Someone is the wrong shade of chocolate today!

My second though was: Reeve wears a dress, though!

"Reeve wears a dress, though!" I said.

"Tifa, take this stupid twit out of my hair, will ya? I have more im'purtant thing to worry about, god _DAMN IT!_" And he said GOD DAMNIT with so much vigor and vehemence I almost ran away to run into _Vincent's_ arms. And he'd _probably_ hug Conformer before he hugged me.

Tifa piped up from her small spot in the kitchen, because that's where all married women should be, with a wooden spoon in her hand. My eyes sparkled at the object and my mind raced to conclusions before she could say anything.

"Are you making brownies!" I exploded and forgot the attention that was brought to my leg wear. I ran over to the kitchen only to see her stirring _tomato sauce_. How _boring._

"No. But Yuffie, you've been wearing those pants for three days now. Don't you think it'd be…smart…to put on something else?" Tifa asked in her sweet mommy voice she now used on a daily basis. Ever since Cloud had knocked her up she's been all "baby this!" and "baby that!" and "MY BOOBS ARE HUGE!" even though she never actually said that but it was so true.

Her boobs got even bigger. One time, at four in the morning, I was going to go get some frozen pancakes because I was _starving to death in my room_, and found her in pajamas eating Frosted Flakes with bacon in it. But she was in her _pajamas_ and _wasn't wearing a bra_ and my tired eyes almost made me shield my face because I was positive they were_ going to burst into a thousand nipples. _But they didn't and I got my pancakes so it was okay.

"I beet she showers in thum, too!" Cait Sith chimed in from his corner of the room. The stupid cat had been hanging around since Reeve couldn't, and was starting to grate on _everyone's _nerve. We all secretly cheered when Marlene flushed his crown down the toilet.

"I shower_ naked_, thank you very much!" I yelled and put up a middle finger over my shoulder so the cat could see. I heard him meow in displeasure.

"My eyes! You stupid yuppy! No one even likes you! Not even your mummy!"

I low whistle stopped his yapping and the captain of the ship made his appearance.

"God _damn it_," what was it with GOD DAMN IT today? "Yuffie, ya really wanna put that _fucking nasty_ picture inside of my head? Yer gunna make me go blind, ya brat!" Cid yelled from his spot by the ships controls. I once again turned around and growled at him.

"Go die! I'm sexy!" I screamed at him, my fists clenched. Even in pants, I was sexy, and everyone knew it, too!

"You guys, the baby…," Tifa said quietly from the kitchen.

"But it can't even see!" I complained in a high pitched voice, whining. Once that little booger was born did I really have to stop my rude comments and actions? I had hoped not, because life on the Shera would be _so boring beyond belief _and I may have killed myself. Our constant fighting and loud cursing was a usual event on the airship, well, between Barrett, Cid, Cait, and I, that is. Tifa, Vincent, Red, and Cloud just sat there and were boring.

I think Vincent and Cloud had silent conventions because sometimes I seriously couldn't find them _for days_ only to find out that they were just being so quiet they almost faded into thin air because god didn't think they existed anymore.

"Tifa, where exactly are we headed for, now?" The quiet and calm and kitty-cat-ish voice of Red said. (Rhyme!) The feline had been laying by the huge glass window at the front of the Shera, looking out at the sky, and I wondered how he didn't get sick by just purring and breathing.

"Shouldn't ya be asking _me,_ ya damn cat? _I_ fly this ship, _I_ decided where we go,_ and I_ should be the one to ask!" Cid said from above me.

"No one asked you, Mr. High and Mighty!" and that was funny, because his last name was Highwind! I think even Vincent would think that would be funny. I think _anyone _would find that funny. Even _dead people _would, even though they're _dead_.

"Shut up Kisaragi!"

Cloud slowly walked into the room, dressed in his normal black attire, his hair spiky, his back firm, his fist clenched, his eyes narrowed, his forehead creased, his attitude emo. He opened his mouth.

"Cid," He said, and the old man shut up. I smirked at the wonderful display of karma.

But Cloud wasn't really emo, and his fists weren't really clenched, and everything I said never really happened except for Cloud walking into the room with black clothes and spiky hair. I straightened it, once, and it all fell in front of his face like a big blonde mop of goo. It was funny, and I took pictures, and Tifa almost wanted to take back all of the sex she's ever had with him because he looked_ horrible_.

"Cid," he said and the old man _looked_ at him. Cloud stayed in the doorway leading into the main room, Tifa in the kitchen in the room behind him. I'm pretty sure they made out while we were all arguing.

Cid was opening his mouth to say something but I stopped him to shove my foot up in Cloud's face.

"Look," I said in all seriousness. Cloud said nothing, looking at the soles of my sneakers. I smirked. "What do you see?" I said it slow, like a puzzle, hoping he could get the answer fast.

"The bottom of your sneaker."

"No…past that…"

"Your foot?"

"Pants! Pants you dumbass! I hate you guys! You're all really stupid and never get my riddles. I'm leaving and taking all of my materia with me!" I yelled and crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. Cloud smiled lightly at me which I returned sassily.

"Ha. Ha. Ha!" I said really fast, "Look at me, I'm Cloud Strife and _I only know what baggy purple pants are_," and after I said that I looked at his pants and realized he wasn't wearing any.

Oh wait he was! I was just remembering a dream I had had a few nights ago, which was of all eight of us, in the Northern Cave, ultimate weapons out, Mega-Elixirs at hand, Sephiroth right in front of us, without pants. Except Red had the lower half of his body shaved off. And Cait died.

I heard Tifa hoot from the kitchen. "Pasta is _reaaddyyy_," She said in a sing-song-mommy-bleh voice and I almost threw up. All over Cloud's baggy _black _pants. But I actually didn't have to throw up at all so I started to run to the kitchen. My eyes widened at the huge bowl of pasta sitting at the kitchen counter and I almost jumped into it so I could live and inhabit its squishy goodness, but then Marlene cut in front of me and got a bowl of it first.

I almost said 'fuck you' then I realized it was Marlene.

And then I realized Vincent had been sitting at the kitchen table the whole time, silent.

And then I ate some pasta and remembered I had _terrible air sickness_ and barfed all over the kitchen table. Again.

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><p><strong>Bottled Self Esteem<strong>

They had found me killing Beachplugs at the coast of Costa Del Sol. I was using my Enemy Skill materia, mastering it for later usage. You never knew when you could use a Big Guard.

I don't think I even noticed the Shera flying above me when I let loose my Conformer yet again, chopping the heads off of the innocent crab like creatures. I only looked up when I heard Cid scream my name from up above, and for a moment I thought it was Aerith, now a man, calling me up to the Lifestream. My breath was hitched and I _almost _smiled when they dropped down the rope for me to climb up and join them.

AVALANCHE was dead and gone, they said. They didn't want to save the world anymore. Cloud was over that, he was proud of himself for everything he's done, but he didn't want that responsibility anymore. At first, I yelled at him, because _I_ still wanted to save the world, and I'm pretty sure some of the others did.

But Cloud told me that AVALANCHE was over, but the DOWNFALL was born.

"_DOWNFALL? _What a lame name, you couldn't have thought of anything better, Cloud? What about, like, IMPLOSION, or the Organization of Badasses, or _something_," I had said.

Cloud had just looked at me. "DOWNFALL. We don't save the world, but we still help. We want to help people, Yuffie. And I'm sure you do, too. We'll go around Gaia and get people out of trouble. We just want to make this world a better place, for once," He had said.

Tifa agreed with him. Well, duh, of course she did. "Everyone else wants to. And it'd be great if you could join us, Yuffie."

And everyone else _had_ wanted to. Everyone was there, in the main room of the Shera. I wondered why I was the last person they picked up.

"That should be our tagline. DOWNFALL: We aren't going to save the world, but we'll give you canned food."

"So are you in?"

And since then I was. I was an official member of not AVALANCHE, but DOWNFALL, the stupidly named organization that gets hookers out of strip clubs and shows hobo's the way to bathrooms. One time, like two months ago, Red got peed on by a homeless woman outside of the hotel we were staying out. It would have been absolutely hilarious if the woman wasn't pregnant and dying of starvation. And it was a turning point of my life, because I realized that ever since the meteor struck, people have hit rock bottom, even more so than before it hit.

And I felt good about myself, because we were making a difference. Every week we'd go to a different village, Kalm, the Edge, even the old remains of Midgar, because people were still living there, believe it or not. I think that was the most terrifying, when I found people covered in dirt and no clothing on their bodies, eating the bugs out of the ripped apart walls of the Shin-Ra building.

I once gave a little girl, at only about five, one of my throwing stars and taught her how to hunt fiends for food, because she would have died if I didn't. I was reduced to 99 throwing stars, but I was fine with that, because she needed it more than I did.

When we visited Nibelhiem, Tifa had dropped to her knees at the sight of poverty gracing her village she loved so much. At least one hundred people traveled to the small town during the last years for shelter, and it had become a nesting site for families that had nowhere else to go.

I think Cloud and Tifa gave everything they had to those poor families.

Vincent spent the whole time in Shin-ra Mansion, looking at the ten, twenty, thirty people that inhabited the once beautiful building. I think he talked to them, once. I watched him, to make sure he didn't stalk down to the basement and lock himself away for another fifty years.

In Cosmo Canyon, which wasn't that bad, at all, Red had howled to his people, his clan, and we didn't need to do much. The Canyon's way of living seemed to be working, living off of the world and taking what they had for granted. I sort of respected them, almost, because I wish I could be like them. But for me to live, I needed blue and green orbs of magic and sneakiness.

We met up with Reeve….once. In Edge, when he was visiting. I laughed at his dress, because men shouldn't wear dresses. But he told us that he wished he could of joined us and Cloud was all fake polite because I could _see_ in his eyes had was so _angry_ with Reeve for ditching us and sending his little, retarded, annoying, obnoxious, stupid, Scottish cat thing. Or maybe that was just me.

Fort Crondor was boring. The hicks there still kind of hated Barrett even _after _he saved the world so we ditched them and left them to die.

Well, not really but I wish we did.

Barrett didn't even seem to care, he helped them anyway. We gave them canned food and gave them some gil to buy new tents and then we left. Barrett didn't say a thing. I wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he was mad at them, too, like I was, but for once didn't show his feelings. _Maybe he was a big, soft, gooey teddy bear with a loving heart_.

We never visited Wutai. I never wanted to.

All of the rest of our time was spent on the Shera. It was as boring as you'd think it would be, really. We all got our own room except for Tifa and Cloud who had sexy times in theirs. (I have heard them more than once!) Each of them had a _private bathroom_ so I took those moments to sing at the top of my lungs old songs from Wutai and break down crying because I missed it so much.

But you didn't hear that from me, you didn't hear that from me.

Wutai was stupid and boring and stuck up and strict. It was the complete opposite of me. I hate Wutai. I hate my father. I hate my old house. I hate all of the elders. I hate Wutai.

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><p>When I woke up in the morning, it was bright. And I mean really bright. My curtains were pushed aside and the sun shone directly into my eyes, god's way of saying <em>wake the hell up you lazy child<em>.

I felt around for my bedside table and flicked on a light _for no reason whatsoever_, making my room even brighter and more painful. I cringed. I turned the light on out of habit and didn't feel like turning it off, just to piss off Cid. So I got up, stretched my arms above my head, and yawned. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and cracked my knuckles like a good ninja.

I put on my sneakers and poked my head outside of my bedroom door to look down the hallway. All I could hear was the engine roaring like it always did and the steamers popping and gurgling. I put one toe outside of the door and then swiftly pulled my entire body out into the hallway.

My eyes shot to side to side and I pressed my body up against the wall. Slowly, I shimmied down the entire hallway, legs shifting with absolute precision and back straight. I made my way all the way to the entrance to the kitchen before I smelt the beautiful smell of chicken nuggets cooking in the oven.

I dropped my entire position and almost ran up to the oven to consume the wonderful things that were inside of it.

But then I saw Tifa looking really fat and pregnant with a fluffy apron around her sitting at the table.

"Good morning, Teefs!" I said happily and joined her at the kitchen table, only to be met with her red and wet eyes.

"Oh gawd," I said and patted her hands that were folded on the table, "What's wrong?" I refrained from adding on a 'this time.'

Now this was something none of us have gotten used to. Tifa was six months pregnant, bipolar as an asylum patient, and as fat as a chef at McJunon's. It was embarrassing, really, because she'd blow up at you if the television was too loud. One time, I was eating a cracker, and some of the crumbs fell onto _my own bed _and she made me clean them up with my own hands. And everyone laughed at me and came into my messy room, with Tifa threatening to hit me with her wooden spoon.

Tifa sniffled.

"C_-Cloud_ wouldn't come and help me cook breakfast…I think he's going to leave me," She said in between sobs. I actually didn't know what to do.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but chicken nuggets aren't really for breakfast," I said, trying to make it sound as nice as possible. I almost cringed when her facial expressions turned to furious to calm to probably really hungry.

She sighed and wiped her own eyes, right when I was about to go get her a napkin. I may be a nice person, but isn't it the guy's job to wipe girls' eyes? She let out a shaky laugh, much to my surprise.

"I-I know, I'm sorry if I've been acting so weird lately, this little guy," She looked down to her stomach and I wondered if it was indeed a guy or not, for Cloud and Tifa decided to wait and be surprised. I was kind of sad that they did, because I hated surprises and I really, really, _really _wanted to make up stupid baby names like Caportnick or Robert or something. "This little guy has been driving me _crazy_, and he's not even born yet."

I never wanted to have kids. Ever. If they made me cry over chicken nuggets, and I don't even cry when my dad disowns over and over again, I would surely kill myself. Or go insane. Or make everyone I know go insane. Except for Vincent. He kind of wins the prize of tolerance. But that prize was only to have more people be annoying around you, because they knew you could handle it.

Heck, I don't even _know _why Vincent decided to join DOWNFALL. When we found him again after the whole Omega incident, he had been _slightly _more cheerful, but by almost .01% Shelke, the annoying little child person thing, said that _Vincent Valentine_ was withdrawn of all of his demons and could now live peacefully. If she had never told me this, I honestly wouldn't have looked closely enough to see how he _had _changed.

He began to talk more. Kinda. He'd sometimes add to the conversation and I've heard him crack a joke a few times. He would eat meals with us and help out around the world as much as a Vincent could. He'd help up build houses and count our gil and clean the Shera. And after that he would disappear into his room and did whatever he does after hours. We all wondered, but none of us found out.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the beeping of the oven to my side. Tifa was the one to get up extremely fast, as if she was doing to drop dead if she didn't shove the fried chicken pieces into her mouth at once. I was about to get up and help but then Cloud showed up in all of his pajama glory.

Now, this was a rarity. The unsaid rule was _shower, wear clothes _for all of us, and we all mostly followed them. Except Cid, who flew the Shera in his boxers daily with a cigarette burning away at his lips. But if you were to show yourself to the whole gang, we all really wanted you to wear actual clothes, because in our gang….some people like to sleep in weird things.

Not me! Oh gawd, I promise it wasn't me! I sleep in pajamas! Normal ones, too! Like, a tee-shirt and shorts. _Normal stuff_. I swear my pajamas are the most normal things about me. But, _Tifa_, she doesn't like wearing a bra to bed and _I can understand why. _She would wake up with tight bra marks for the rest of her life and would probably die from circulation cut off one night if she wore one to bed. So she's a no-no to the pajamas –in-public rule.

But Cloud, whom I had never thought would wear anything kinky to bed, was standing in front of me with a sexy bed head and no shirt, only black pajama bottoms.

"Tifa, come back to bed," He said softly. When she didn't turn to him and continued on with her cooking, he said, "Let me get them for you, go back to sleep."

If there was one man who wanted a baby the most in the world, it was Cloud. He would nurture and care for that baby until is bled. (Maybe that was a bad wording of thoughts.) He wanted a little brat to be his own so badly he's read about three parenting books already and had a baby room all set up back at the bar in Edge. God knows why he wants a little chocobo head running around, but for now he had to put all of his nurturing and care on Tifa.

Tifa just grunted in response and put on her oven mitts to grab the hot sheet on the racks of the oven. Cloud, not even looking in my direction, walked over to her and gently took the mitts off of her hands before she could open to over. He grabbed her hands in his and looked her in the eyes.

"Go back to bed. You need your rest," he said quietly.

"I'm not a child, Cloud, I can do things myself," she said.

Cloud's jaw tightened. "But you're carrying our child. Let me do it, please, I want to," he said and the whole 'I want to' got to Tifa every time. She sighed and smiled at him when he kissed her forehead, to which I almost (_almost_) made kissy and barfing noises but _I didn't_ so it's okay.

Tifa left to room slowly, and very similarly to a penguin, leaving just Cloud and I. He stayed there, putting the chicken nuggets onto a small plate, just in pants. _Pants_. What is it with pants lately?

"Nice pants," I said, trying to get on his good side for a chicken nugget. I was about to call them sexy (please take this time to note that _I do not like Cloud Strife in any way romantically he has a wife and our babies would look ugly anyway so)_ but I stopped when he dropped a smaller plate of chicken nuggets in front of me.

"She made the whole one hundred pack. I think she honestly thought she could eat them all," he said and my eyes stayed glued to the glory that was in front of me.

"Thank you, Strifey!" I said and bit off half of one, chewing it slowly to savor it, even though I had five left on my plate.

He said nothing accept, "We're heading to Midgar today."

And that's where this whole story began.

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><p><em>This story will not be updated until I complete the entire story, which I am about 15% away from doing. I need the ending scene and then the epilogue. This is quite a long story. You have been warned.<em>

_I couldn't wait to post this...I've been having a bad day and just needed something to do. So please, review. It will make me smile._

_Also, high school is awesome. Algebra 2 sucks but other than that, I am having the time of my life. Thank you for reading this prologue!_


	2. Chapter 1

_The story is now complete. Well. There is a tied up ending. Now I just need to write an epilogue that _actually_ ties things up. I am super satisfied with this story. I hope you are too._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE<strong>

The streets of Midgar held no mercy. They were dirty and dark and the moans of the dying could be heard all across the abandoned city. It was depressing, extremely so, but someone had to help these people. There were puddles of water and urine scattered across the pavement, windows broken into, even a fire started on a shack in Sector 6, or what used to be.

Cloud assigned me to clean the ground that was covered with human waste, and at first I outright protested, but then I calmed down and did what I had to. He handed me a bucket, mop, and a hose, even though I didn't need it and could just use Leviathan on the ground and wash all of the waste away, along with the people who inhabited this poor city.

But I scrubbed, mopped, and swept at the disgusting ground, my only thoughts on plugging my nose and running away to the forests surrounding the city, where endless fiends laid and were victims to my wrath.

Everyone else left. They left to go and talk to the people of the city, once again, for we had been here once before. Some of them recognized us, some smiling wildly and waving their hands, others grunting and turning away. It seemed that sometimes people didn't even want help, even in situations like these.

I was alone in an alleyway; down on my knees and sweeping away some crap someone took next to the wall when I saw him. At least, I thought it was a him. I never really did find out.

It was the wagging of a tail that got my attention, shaking and flying around like a fireball. My head shot up at the sound of panting and I looked in all directions until my eyes laid on the edge of the ending of the alley. All the way in front of me, it's tail poking out behind the bleak building I was stuck in-between, was a golden dog.

I was shocked, only because I thought that human beings inhabited this place, and no animal in its right mind would come into this city of darkness.

I stood up from my crouching position to get a better look. I could see all of its tail, all curled upward and fluffy, and its hair coming out like little spikes at the end. It sort of reminded me of my shuriken except this tail was attached to a butt, which I could see equally well.

I let out a low whistle, trying to get its attention, but all I got was a more vigorous shake of the tail. I took a step forward slowly and let out a sharper whistle, short and higher pitched, and that got its attention. It turned around immediately and went out to find the source of the whistle, only to find me, a twenty year old girl wearing pants. (Still!)

It ran towards me when I put out my hand, wiggling but then I realized that it wasn't a cat, but a dog, and would come to me even if I spit on the ground and took a shit on it. (So many poops lately, I know, and I'm sorry.)

The golden dog reached my hand in a couple of strides and I pet its soft head with affection. I never had a dog when I was smaller, but I had always wanted one, even though it was only because I wanted to use it for target practice. (I was a fucked up little girl.)

Its fur was creamy and golden and smelled terrible. Its mouth was open and it panted like it had been running for ten miles. I wanted to grab my tooth brush and shove it down its throat, to clean out all the disgusting things that must have been gathered around its gum line.

_Gross_, I thought, and looked it up and over. It had golden fur all the way down its entire body, fleas and mattered fur joining it. The dog had a scar over its left front leg, probably from the fire or someone trying to kill it for food. I let out a low 'awww' and pet it roughly behind its ears, making it close its eyes in pleasure.

"You're a good doggie, aren't you?" I asked it and it closed its eyes in please. I stood up and grabbed my bucket, mop, and my hose because I was done with my cleaning and looked at the dog. I raised my eyebrows when it stayed where it was, so I began to walk away slowly and go back to cleaning, but something stopped me when I heard the thing whimper. I sighed. It was too cute.

I turned around when I was about five feet away from it, looking at it with an _are you serious_ expression and whistled sharply again, bringing its ears high up in the air and it ran towards me. It ran with a sort of limp with its left front leg and I knew that whatever damaged it must have been from a long time ago if it had scarred yet gave him a limp still. He probably got hit by a car. If someone could find a car in Midgar.

"Attaboy," I said when it reached me and the dog's mouth opened and it began to pant again. It seemed as if the dog had gotten tired from the small amount of running it just did to get to me. I wondered how it survived, without food or any caretaker of any kind. And then suddenly, it barked at me, just when I took my hand away from petting it.

"You like that, huh? Attaboy? Are you a boy? I hope you're a boy, because if you're not you'd be no fun. Girl dogs are boring and horny all the time," I said and looked at him, "I bet you get horny a lot, too."

The dog barked again and I laughed, scratching it underneath its chin. "Attaboy. That's your name. You are now a boy. Congratulations," I had too much dignity and honor to go looking for his doggy parts.

Feeling as though my time with the creature was done, I stood up and was planning to leave, and did. I left the alleyway and walked into the opening that was covered by the cracked outer plate of Midgar.

_So gloomy, so very gloomy, _I thought, and this whole situation reminded me of why I _never ever wanted to live in a city ever _and I just wanted to go back to Wutai.

But I don't because I hate Wutai.

I was planning to make my way back to Cloud and the others because I had finished my job in the slums, not encountering as many life forms as I thought I would, only a stupid dog. The people who lived here tended to live on the outer plate, and that made the most sense because, I mean, who the hell wanted to live down here?

My steps were echoed as I walked, but in taps of four. I thought hard, and then I remembered I only had two legs.

I turned around and came face to face with Attaboy.

(And I called DOWNFALL a stupid name.)

"Doggy! I gotta work! Go away!" I said, shooing him away with my hands. I couldn't go back to the others with a dog following my every move, because, gawd, _what would they think_. **What would Cid think**.

"Go away!" I blurted out again and almost shoved the adorable thing away at the thought. Cid would never let me live it down.

You see, Cid and I, well, we're strange. I seriously think we have the weirdest relationship of the bunch. Stranger than Cait Sith's and Vincent's relationship, and they don't even _talk._ He's like my dad, but on crack. Heroine. Meth. Crystalmeth. And Acid. All at once. He's the complete opposite of my own father besides the fact that they both think that yelling at me is their hobby. But the thing is, I actually liked Cid as my father.

Cid and I bicker. We yell. We fight. But he looks over me in a way my dad never did, and I sort of liked it. I was crazily protected in Wutai (which I hate) to the point that I wanted to break the arms of every elder that told me I shouldn't climb a tree naked. But Cid, he would yell at me if I _didn't_ climb a tree naked. He pushed me to do the outrageous things I already did anyways. He teased me if I screwed up or did something stupid and he laughed at me because I deserved to be laughed at. Maybe he was actually more like a big brother than a father. A really, really old big brother.

So if I brought a bright yellow dog with me after I'd been away for only two hours, he'd probably kick me in my stomach because I'd make him laugh so hard.

But…the dog was so cute. It was so innocent. And hurt. It was hurt, and I think that's what made my heart melt. I turned around and returned to my crouched position once again, patting the dog on his back. I couldn't leave him here, to fend for himself, where human beings were to the point of killing each other for food.

So I tested him. I walked a few feet away with my back turned to him and then I turned around, only to see him right behind me. He limped with a limp so sickening that I scooped him up and sobbed right into his golden fur.

Well, not really, but I really wanted to. He was so needy, I think. I think he didn't even know how to swallow. It actually seemed that way, because the dog was so skinny and looked like he was going to bite off my own arm once.

I looked around, then behind me, through the next alleyway that was behind me that gave me a great view to the Shera. Maybe…maybe…

"Stay here," I said to the dog, but he didn't listen, duh. I snuck up to the Shera, shimming on the alleyway walls, similar to the way I did this morning. I was slow and cautious, and I kinda wanted Attaboy to join me, standing up on his two back legs and being sneaky with me. Kinda like in those old television shows with the Chocobos that fought crime.

But Attaboy never joined me, he just limped around behind me slowly while I did all of the ninja-ness. When we reached the end of the alleyway, I looked around to make sure no one was around the Shera, making sure Attaboy was right behind me and out of sight. I saw no one but an old woman washing her clothes in the gutter and took this chance to sneak Attaboy into the airship.

I couldn't leave him alone here, I just couldn't. I'd feed him in secrecy, play with him in the middle of the night, and clean up his waste because I was an expert in that. No one would ever know. It'd be simple, because I'm a ninja and can do anything and get away with it.

Opening the front hatch to the Shera was harder than it looked, mostly because I was trying to hide a dog behind me while I was doing it, and I actually had no idea what I was doing in the first place.

When the hatch was finally down (after like, five minutes of it opening) I scooped up Attaboy, for real this time, and quickly ran inside of the airship before anyone could see. I decided to close the hatch away, having to wait another five minutes with a squirming 200 pound dog in my arms. I didn't let him go because I was afraid he'd run into the kitchen and eat all of Tifa's chicken nuggets and _sweet lord baby jesus _that would be terrible.

So once the hatch was closed once again and there was no trace of me ever being there, I sprinted away from the main control room and into the many corridors that filled up the beautiful airship called the Shera.

I honestly had no idea where to put the GOD DAMN thing so for then I just stored it in my room, to which it jumped up onto my bed and sat. It was panting and it had a doggy smile on its face and my first thought was: awwwwww!

My second thought was: What am I going to feed it?

After deeming that my blankets were not appropriate food, I picked up the heavy dog once again and ran along the hallways looking for a room that could actually sustain it for awhile. I was really, really super close to putting it into Vincent's room because I think he may have actually r_eacted _to something if he was going to bed and a dog was sleeping next to him.

Note: That would be the first time Vincent Valentine had ever gotten something other than brooding angst into his bed with him.

I'm not saying he wasn't sexy. He was sexy. Let me say it again: VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy VincentValentineWasSexy.

Okay, so he's not a total loser. But I honestly thought that he could get any woman he wanted if he tried. And by trying I mean saying "I want to have sex with you," because that's honestly what Vincent would say if he ever wanted to sleep with someone. Honest. I know from experience.

No I don't but whatever. I should just thrust the stupid Attaboy dog into his bed and make it smell like wet dog. It'd make him less sexy, and that's good for his health.

I groaned when I stepped past his bedroom door, but not before sneaking inside of it to look at his materia. He didn't have much, just a simple Heal, Revive, and Restore. In case of emergencies, I suppose. But that didn't make sense because I don't think Vincent could die anymore, even if he wanted to.

But I really hoped he didn't want to, because I liked Vincent. He was a good friend. At least, I thought we were friends. Were we friends? I don't know, maybe. I wondered what the classifications of being a friend were in Vincent's mind. Probably anyone who left him alone.

That means Vincent Valentine is the most popular man on the entire planet!

So I wandered past his bedroom and into the more mechanical parts of the Shera, where most of the workers lived and well, worked. They didn't even look at me when I passed by with a golden blob in my arms, totally sucked into their work and jobs. _How lame_, I thought, because I'd hate to be that absorbed in a computer all day. They probably write stupid fanfiction for the TV shows they watch late at night. Dorks.

So I continued looking, and finally, I hit the jackpot. I had almost totally forgotten about rooms like these, filled with hay and food and water and space. It was made for a chocobo, but it could still work. I mean….I looked down to the dog…..it would have to do.

"Here you go, Attaboy! Now, don't be obnoxious like your mommy is," and suddenly I became Tifa, "eat your food, stay quiet, and I'll come visit you. _Sometimes_. If I'm not here, imagine me kicking of Cait Sith's head, or trying to make Barrett get sunburn, or kissing Vincent. (What? It could happen.) All of those things could actually happen, or I may just be sleeping. Try not to die, okay? I gotta go, but I might be back. If you die, make sure not to smell. Okay. Okay. Okay, bye," I said and closed the door on the dogs butt.

I let out a deep breath and had no idea what I was doing.

I think that if Tifa found out about this, she'd either be really, really, really happy, or so furious at me she'd explode into a million tiny pieces of Cloud baby. And I'd be forced to clean it up because all I did today was clean and find dogs. Well, a dog. But still.

I didn't dare risk another hatch opening, mostly because if anyone had seen me they'd ask me what I was doing. I could have probably just said that I was hungry, and they would have believed me, but I hate lying. (Which was a blatant lie because, heh, I'm a ninja.)

So I decided to chill out on the couch in the rec room, which was now where the only shop was located on the Shera, and there were chairs implanted into the walls so we could set up a T.V. on both sides and watch from the opposite side. It was pretty cool, except we didn't actually have a couch so I was forced to sit on one of the many red chairs by the walls. It was boring for awhile, until I realized I was getting no entertainment due to the television being off. So I turned it on.

And then I turned it back off because _The History of Wutai _was on the History channel and I almost broke down in either hysterical fits of anger or whopping sobs of homesickness. I couldn't tell but I honestly hoped it was the first one.

I sat there for about ten seconds until I got bored again, and I almost went back to Attaboy, but then I lost interest and got lazy and just sat on the uncomfortable seat for another two minutes. Now, that was a record for me. Especially with no entertainment.

I'm not saying that I'm a sugar high freak that loves candy and pees her pants at the sight of materia. I can sit still. I have sat through countless amounts of uber boring DOWNFALL meetings in the past two months, only listening in when Barrett farted once and Cloud had to stop the meeting because it smelt so GOD DAMN bad. But even in that situation I didn't have to listen much, only to people's disgusted remarks and insults and Barrett's gun arm opening to which we all _ducked for cover and prayed to whatever being you believed in because we were not dying that day because some old man farted_.

And I'm not really proving my point, am I?

Okay, well, point is, if Barrett farts, say nothing and deal with it. You will most likely survive.

My ears picked up the sound of the hatch opening up and I looked to the wall for a time. It was about six, and Tifa was probably asleep in her bed because Cloud didn't let her out much anymore. I mean, today she helped pass out the cans, but after that I'm sure Cloud made her head back into the airship because the 'air wasn't clean enough,' to which I laughed and took in a huge breath of it.

I really hoped Attaboy wasn't barking his head off right now, because if he was, even though the chocobo room was really far away from Tifa's room, Tifa had super pregnant enhanced hearing abilities and could have probably heard me breathing at that moment. But she didn't emerge in a chicken-nugget-enhanced rage so everything was okay.

My muscles tense when the hatch began to close again and I heard some people chattering in the main room. What if they were mad at me? What if they think I died? What if they're happy that I'm gone because they never even liked me anyway? What If they missed me because I was so awesome? What if they thought my pants were-

"She's probably out jumpin' from roof ta roof. I swear, that kid is a strange one, strange than YOU were when you joined up with AVALANCHE! And THAT'S saying somethin'!" Barrett's thick voice said and I could hear light footsteps run up to him, Marlene's sneakers skidding on the slick ground.

"Papa!" She said and probably ran into said papa's arms. He was probably being all daddy-ish and putting her up on his shoulders and telling her jokes and making her dinner and teaching her how to throw throwing stars instead of getting some stupid academy to do it.

I got up from my seat in the rec room and made my way out into the hallway, making my way over to the source of the noise. The twists and turns of the Shera were still so very confusing to me and I got lost once, only to turn around to see Tifa's back heading out of her room. I decided to follow her, for she probably knew this ship better than I did.

Tifa and I (mostly Tifa, I came secretly) popped out of the long corridors and into the main room and I was greeted with relieved looks from the men of the ship.

Everyone ignored Tifa for once.

"There you are, ya runt! Got erryone worried…," Barrett said, Marlene on top of his shoulders. I just sighed and kicked my feet into the side of the platform that held the steering wheel.

"Yuffie, everyone was told to check in when they finished their duties. We all know you're not one to follow instructions….but…," and for the first time in awhile I became embarrassed. My cheeks became rosy and my foot continued to kick the platform and I looked down to the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. I knew I shoulda…well…," and I wasn't good at this at all.

"Don't kick that!" Cid barreled.

"Shut up old man!" I barked back. Bark. I wondered what Attaboy was doing.

Cloud walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Just know that we care about your safety, alright?"

All Cloud really was to me was a big brother. Nothing else. Only big brothers would do this to me. I just nodded and watched as he passed me to take Tifa into his arms.

"Did you sleep well?" He murmured to her, placing his head on top of his, his arms wrapped around her waist tightly. There was a small separation of their bodies to make up for Tifa's humongous stomach of fatness, but it wasn't fat and was actually a baby. Their baby, half spiky and half sex appeal and estrogen. I kinda wished it would be a girl so I could see if Tifa's boobs were inheritable and _why do I talk about Tifa's boobs all of the time_.

Cait Sith popped up behind me, clutching onto my pant leg with his tiny paw, making me look down at him. "You smeel like wet dawg!" He said crisply and I almost died, and then I almost smelled my hair but realized it was too short to smell. My blush returned.

"Now you look like Tall, Dark, and Dangerous's cloak! What is up with you, Yuffy?" the cat chimed in again, making my blush deepen. I'm Yuffie (not YUFFY) Kisaragi, I do not blush. It takes away from camouflage.

I looked to Vincent, standing tall and quietly by the wall, everyone's new best friend. His cloak was still placed on his back, tattered and torn (Tifa had offered to sew it once, but he just grunted.) and rugged. Once, I had stolen it while we all had to share _one room at an inn_ and it was his turn for the shower. Coincidentally, I got the last turn that night and froze to death in the shower because Marlene had to take a bath of scalding temperature right before me.

But what I had learned in that incident was that Vincent's cloak smelt really, really bad and he probably hadn't washed it in weeks, or decades. Either one.

I raised my eyebrows, "Ey, Vince, was I really gone for that long, today? All I did was go in like, an hour early. I don't think that's _that _bad, I mean, come on," And I kept rambling until he spoke up.

"It would be…wise…to inform us of when you're leaving," He spoke in his deep and vibrating voice. I looked up at him and stood my ground.

"But I don't smell like wet dog, right?" I asked, hopeful.

"I wouldn't know," he said and walked off to the kitchen, where Tifa said that dinner was ready. She really was becoming a housewife.

I sighed in frustration; I wish I could actually have a conversation with him. He was like a puzzle that wasn't put together, like he had a huge hole in his chest, still. I wanted to figure him out, but I didn't know how.

After the whole WRO incident, him saving me in the heroic way from all of that darkness, we got closer. Barely. I knew he cared, somehow and somewhere. I guess I kinda sorta….as much as I hated to say it….owed my life to him? I guess? I don't think so. I think I could have escaped that darkness without his help. If I had just gotten myself together and stopped _screaming_ I could have-

"Yuffie, dinner's ready!" Tifa's cheery voice said from the kitchen, and I left Cait Sith, shaking him loose of his grip on my pants. The kitchen was sort of a mess, mostly because Tifa had gone all out in her preparation of strawberry salad and macaroni and cheese. It was the strangest combination, but I didn't complain. Tifa's mac and cheese was legendary and I would live in it if I could. Well, I would at least swim in it. And then eat it. And then run a marathon and burn it all off.

Cloud, Vincent, Cid and Barrett were all sitting at the kitchen table, a bottle of bear in each of their hands. It was funny to see Vincent drink. Cloud was a bit strange, but I could see him needing a drink more than anyone after all that had happened to him. I guess this didn't prove my case at all for Vincent, considering he probably has a worse past than all of us combined, but he didn't seem like the drinking type. Or the smoking type. Or the sex addict type. He just seemed like the suffer in silence type. I wondered if he preferred it that way.

But surely enough, he would bring the bottle to his lips every now and again, and once it left he would offer a word to the conversation they were having. Cloud would join him, taking slow and savory sips from his glass, making sure it didn't get to his head. Cloud and Vincent drunk was a sight I had yet to see.

Barrett drank his down in five minutes flat and sent Marlene to bed after she finished dinner.

And Cid was already drunk from the minute he set foot in the Shera so that didn't really matter.

Tifa stood by me and handed me a plate filled with delicious looking food, yellow and green (my, _my _colors) blending together in a mesh of goodness. I grabbed a plastic fork off of the counter (we were cheap) and sat down next to Vincent. I was without a beer and only a water.

I wasn't the only one without alcohol, for Tifa, being full of baby, had a water next to her as well, while Cloud held her hand underneath the table. Well, at least I _thought_that was what they were doing. As far as I know, Cloud wasn't moaning yet and Tifa didn't look too focused.

I almost was jealous of their cuteness. But I knew I could never have something like that, because sometimes I felt like I was more boy than girl. And sometimes I thought that others viewed me that way, too. I always felt like one of the guys, with Tifa being our source of femininity, baking us food and making us clean. All which she beat up people with us and saved the world. Now, all I could do was say 'nyuk nyuk' and wear shorts that looked like underwear. And have short hair. And no chest. And the ability to beat up guys older than me.

I always hated dresses.

The macaroni was soft and kind of over-cooked but if I told Tifa that she'd hate me until she popped out her child. So I ate in silence and listened as Cloud talk to Reeve through Cait and watched as Red ate his food from the ground. I almost felt bad for him and then I remembered that he was indeed an animal and couldn't really sit in a chair and oh my god animals.

My eating picked speed and I think people noticed but I didn't care. I didn't care if I smelt like wet dog because I knew I actually did. I finished the mac and cheese with lightening speed and precision, not missing a single noodle. The salad took me a bit more time, though, because I was never a fan of anything green accept for nature and my shirts.

But I got through it eventually and finished before everyone else for dinner. I thanked Tifa for the meal and left as fast as I could, ignoring the questionable glances Cloud was giving me. He had Reeve to worry about, not me.

I almost started to run when I got out of the kitchen doorway.

I don't know why I was so worried, exactly. Maybe it was because for the first time in my life I actually had to care about the well being of something. (Which is a _total_ lie because for the past four years I've been ready to die in a split second for my friends.) But when I neared the old chocobo room and heard the whimpers of an animal in need I almost kicked open the door.

After the door was broken into and I had closed it securely behind me, I turned around on one heel and saw Attaboy staring at me with wide eyes and a probably empty stomach. I looked around the room to see that not much of the hay had been eaten, and then I remembered that _dogs don't eat hay._

And then I became worried that he would starve to death because of insufficient nutrition (smartest thing I've ever said) and was beginning to plan a sneaky robbery of the kitchen. I could go shimmying down the wall like usual and then BAM! Steal all of the ground beef in the kitchen. But then he'd probably die from ecoli…oh well!

Wait, I should care, though. Maybe I could cook it. Cook ground beef at three in the morning. But what if Tifa had a hamburger and peanut butter sandwich craving the next morning? Then she'd probably eat me and I could join her and her baby in her stomach.

Attaboy's bark was what brought me out of my thoughts, so I kneeled down to pat him on his head like it was the only thing I really knew how to do. I assumed me was pretty darn bored all stuck up in here, so I grabbed a piece of hay and tried to throw it past him, only to have the 'wind' pick it up and move it barely an inch. I sighed.

"I should take you on a walk, shouldn't I?" I asked him quietly, only for him to say nothing in response. He reminded me if Vincent, only more out of breath and covered in hair. I'm not saying that Vincent isn't _covered in hair if you know what I mean_ (But I don't even know what I mean because he never takes off his body suit thing) but Vincent is defiantly not an animal. Well, he used to have ones in his brain, but they're long gone now.

I wish I could take him on a walk. He probably deserved it, even with his limp. Or maybe I was being too soft. I didn't want to get attached to this thing, simply because if it died I didn't wanna be an emotional wreck around the others for no apparent reason. And I hated lying. (Lie.)

His water looked….dranken. Drunken. Dranked? Inhaled? Consumed? I always got confused on what to say. But it was gone, almost completely, so I took this time to get him some more, because I probably would just be bored again if I left.

So I said my goodbyes to Attaboy and opened the door and went to go grab the bucket Cloud had given me for the streets. I had dumped it in my bedroom, so once I got it back into my hands; I made my way back to the kitchen.

Cloud, Barrett, and Vincent (even Vincent!) were still there, talking quietly about matters probably really boring to me. Cait Sith was gone so I assumed Reeve had nothing more to say and Tifa was probably sitting down somewhere like all pregnant women do. Cid was most likely passed out on his bed. I honestly tried to be as quiet as possible, gently setting my feet down in time with each word that was said. I don't think they noticed me at first, because I was so small and was crouching behind the counter. But then I had to face the evil sink, something so sinister not even The Great Ninja Yuffie could concur.

At first, I had turned on the faucet…barely. So much that only a small stream of water came out, sputtering at moments and even stopping for a while, to which I had to pound on the top of the faucet as gently as I could, so it was still pretty damn hard. Oh, wait, pretty GOD DAMN hard.

But I got really, really impatient after the first few minutes, not because my legs were beginning to ache from my crouched position and my arms hurt because I was holding a bucket above my head that was slowly gaining weight. It was because I was used to getting things done in a fast and normally inefficient manner (aka if I wasn't trying to hide, the bucket would be overflowing all over the floor and Tifa would probably slip and die and _why was I thinking about Tifa so much.) _

So I decided to crouch up a wee bit and turn on the faucet a wee bit more and try to stay ninja-ish but it all didn't work.

"Yuffe…what are you doing?" I heard Vincent's deep voice say from over my shoulder and I almost shot straight around and told him to "_fuck the hell off"_ but I didn't because I have a small amount of self control and at that moment I decided to use it.

So all I really did was pop up from my crouched position, turn the faucet on as high as it went, and turn back around and give the group of men a look that resembled this one- O.O

I looked like a deer in headlights but I didn't care so I just grabbed my bucket that was overflowing completely and scampered away for the group of questionable _boys_. They were all little, tiny boys who liked Saturday morning cartoons and let their mommy's still make them lunch every morning. I bet they even get Tifa to tuck them into bed every night. Probably their weapons, too. I bet Tifa puts a kiss on the Death Penalty's trigger every night. And humps Cloud's buster sword. I bet.

(I still wake up on Saturday's to watch cartoons.) I mean what.

So I ran out of the kitchen with Barrett's drunken "Ya strange lil biiisshhhhh..," ringing in my ears and I imagined Vincent's face. It was probably like stone, flat, and I wondered if he was drunk. I wondered if drunk Vincent was like regular Vincent except for even more serious. He could get drunk and it could work in opposite ways because Vincent's whole entire being seemed to be completely fucked up.

But all of us were fucked up.

And then I reached the chocobo room in record time, slamming the door open (somehow) and then doing the same to it behind me. And that's what she said?

Attaboy greeted me with a doggy smile and I almost hugged him out of complete and utter love, because somehow I had just made a total fool out of myself for a dog I had gotten only five hours ago. But I set the bucket down in front of him and when he drank from it like he would die if he didn't, I almost burst into tears. I don't know why I was so emotion, maybe it was because I had actually sacrificed some of my time for someone other than myself. I'm not saying I'm a selfish person, but most of my time is devoted to me.

I was kind of upset when he finished the bowl of water so quickly, only because I knew I'd have to go and embarrass myself some more if he needed any more.

"Okay, so here's the plan, Attaboy," I started, sitting down on the ground in front of him with my arms behind me to support myself. I tried to talk quietly because of the risk of people hearing me and thinking I was even more insane, even after the bucket incident. "You're going to become a fish, okay? That way, I won't have to get you more water from a bucket that I used today to clean up piss and shit. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that, but you're a dog so I doubt you can understand a single thing I'm saying. But more importantly, fish. Grow gills, fins, that kind of stuff," I said.

All he did was breath and wag his tail. I wished I had something I could throw, only to provide entertainment for the poor thing. But I couldn't, because the only balls I had (tehehehehehe) were my materia and no way in hell was I letting a dog slobber all of his slobbery spit on my precious materia. So I resorted to just sitting there for awhile, watching him wag his tail and sit patiently in front of me.

He had fleas all over and every once in awhile he'd lift up one of his back legs to scratch a particularly itchy space. I felt bad for him, mostly because if I was itchy 99% of the time, I'd probably kill myself. Or get absolutely nothing done. But I get absolutely nothing done in the first place so.

His scar looked vicious, a flaming red color around the white line of new flesh. There was no fur growing around the wound and there probably wouldn't be for awhile. I reached my hand up to touch it, and when I laid my index and middle finger lightly on the healing skin, Attaboy jerked back quickly. A low whimper escaped his mouth and he didn't come close to me for a couple of minutes. It took some soft words and even a whistle for him to come back to me.

Somehow, he reminded me of Aerith. He was timid and shy, yet always happy and cheerful. Even though Aerith never really was shy, she always seemed a bit hesitant, and she was always sweet. And this dog, he was sweet. But he knew when to stop, just like Aerith did. And I missed Aerith, like everyone else did. We all missed her, and everyone wondered what it would be like if she was still alive. Would she be cooking us dinner? Would she be showing us Promised Land? Would she be holding Cloud's child, instead?

I shook my head. This was a dog, not a human being. Even though Aerith was more like an alien than a human being, but she was probably the most beautiful alien that would ever grace your eyes.

For a moment I was really close to renaming the dog Aerith but it was actually boy (or so I hoped) and Aerith is a pussy name for a boy. Even though Attaboy was barely any better, but at least it had boy in the name. So it worked, and it was growing on me.

I had to leave, though, because I heard Cid's drunken voice from behind me and a chill ran up my spine. What if he was so drunk he thought the chocobo room was actually his room? What if he passed out right on top of Attaboy? What if he squished him to death with all of the extra weight he's added on from his beer belly? What if-

"_Shera? Sheera? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeraaaa?"_ I heard Cid yell from behind the door, and if I was in any other single situation, I would have yelled out 'Shera's not here, you crazy old fart!' and get beat up by Cid. But I had a dog to attend to and couldn't make fun of him right then.

I looked to Attaboy. "Stay here. I'll be back, like, someday. _Someday_, I promise. A lot. I'll try. But I have a drunken man trying to find his wife, and I need to go make fun of him. It's serious. So try to eat hay and drink your own tears," I told him and began to open the door. I leaned back a bit, my head still barely inside of the room. "And remember, fish. Grow fins."

All he did was look sad. And my stomach dropped and I felt like I was abandoning him. I swallowed and shook it off.

I followed the sound of Cid's drunken wails out into the hallway and tried to look like I knew what I was doing there. He was stumbling around and was trying to light a cigarette but kept dropping it to the ground and _picking it back up and putting it in his mouth_. I almost barfed for the 73rd time on the airship.

"Cid!" This is the first time in awhile I've actually called him by his first name, "That's friggen nasty! Throw that away, or at least burn it to death! Jesus Christ, man, go to bed. You're wasted," I told him.

"Shuddap…you jus' a wuss, don' know how ta be a man….," He muttered, finally lighting the disgusting cigarette in between his lips and taking a slow drag.

"Yeah, THAT'S A GOOD THING. If you haven't noticed, I'M A GIRL!" I told him, tugging on my pants as if to show him of femininity. His expression didn't change from the happy/pleasurable face he usually gets when he's alone and smoking. It's a very rare sight and I should have brought my camera.

"I wouldn't have noticed if ya took off your own shirt right naw," He said, holding his cigarette in between his index and middle finger. I wanted to take my own middle finger and put it to good use. So I did.

"Not like I ne'er seen that before," He said again and I just left him. I was really tempted to yell back '_Shera left you for a city man!'_ but I didn't because, like I said earlier, I had self control.

I left Cid and Attaboy behind me and made my way into my bedroom. The night had settled in and after checking my clock, I took a hot shower, sorta hoping Marlene hadn't taken hers yet so she could take a bath in something that resembled Icicle Inn. And then I brushed my teeth (in the shower!) and dried my hair which took like, one minute. I slipped into some pajamas and curled up into my covers, trying to listen to the sounds of barking. But all I got were the moans of Cloud and Tifa getting it on.

* * *

><p>We all ate cereal for breakfast the morning that Tifa had to go to her doctor's appointment. It was boring, because all we had were Bran Flakes or Raisin Bran Flakes. I tried the raisin, hated it, and spit them all into Vincent's bowl when he wasn't looking. <em>And he actually ate them, too<em>. I pissed myself from laughing so much (albeit quiet little snickers) and I think I even left a puddle on the seat I was sitting on.

The Shera was parked on the outskirts on Gongaga, and I don't have a clue in hell why we didn't go to another doctor. Maybe it was because the owed it to Zack? I mean, what? That doesn't make any sense, but Cloud and Tifa are so absorbed in making stuff up to people (Aerith's church has been eaten alive by flowers, I swear.) that Tifa probably thinks that having her lil blob born in the same place Zack was, was symbolic.

Now, me, I was downright fine with her squeezing the little sucker out right on the kitchen table. Even though the landing did help relieve some of the airsickness that was consuming my entire being these past two months. (I just didn't show it anymore because I'm a badass.)

Tifa claimed that she had to have a check up like, every two months or something (that's probably wrong, for I wasn't paying attention, _at all_.) and so every two months we had to stop for something other than handing out canned food. And it was_ booooring_.

Gongaga wasn't exactly the most exciting place in the entire world. Actually, it wasn't exciting at all. It was just boring and depressing. But everything around here seemed to be depressing nowadays.

If you're wondering, Attaboy was still in the chocobo room. I had snuck him some chicken nuggets every morning and night, thanking god that Tifa had indeed bought the 100 pack. He seemed to like the chicken nuggets, a lot, so I brought him more and more and more until the 100 pack was gone and Tifa was pissed.

But pissed and pregnant Tifa only stayed around for an hour, at most, so I didn't really have to worry about much. I saw her try to eat mustard….plain…after she had her huge fit so I decided to leave her alone for awhile, mostly because I didn't want her to ask me if I wanted to try some. _What if I actually liked it_?

So Attaboy ate chicken nuggets and drank water and I played with him (to the best that I could) when I was bored, which was a lot. And I had forgotten that animals can indeed pee, and he totally did, and shat (SHAT, not shit, shat.) all over the poor chocobo room. Luckily, I was experienced with cleaning up human waste, that animal waste wasn't even half as bad.

At the moment, I was with the stupid dog, petting him and talking to him about how Cid probably had crabs and that Barrett could have a comb over if he unbraided all of his hair. I talked to him about a lot, and all he ever did was wag his tail and act retarded. And it sucked, because not many other people talked to me about random stuff. I mean, I could talk to Vincent for hours on end, but all he ever did was nod and walk away. Boring!

I got bored after awhile, and once I finished talking about Marlene growing up to be a hooker, I stood up and was planning to leave when I heard the intercom above me let out a high pitched beep. I paused and gave Attaboy a look as if to silence him even though he wasn't saying anything. And wasn't able to.

It was the voice of a worker, one of the ones flying the ship in the command room. His voice was timid and this was probably the first time he's had to do this.

"_All members of DOWNFALL please report to the main room. I repeat-" _But I stopped listening and ran out the door.

* * *

><p>Turns out, it was just Cid being a dickface and scaring us all because he's a dickface.<p>

"I hope all of ya'll remember how to hold up your weapons, cuz we've got a lil get of a situation on the homeland," Cid said from his spot by the steering wheel. My hand instinctively reached backwards for my Conformer, but I hadn't had a weapon on my back for months.

"OH _HELL_ YES!" I screamed very loudly and deeply, "WHOSE ASS AM I KICKING? I HAVEN'T KICKED ASS IN YEARS. _YEARS_. _**YEARS YOU GUYS." **_

"I seem to recall you beating up a Beomouth the other day in the forests around Midgar," Red said from below me. Oh, yeah, I did. Years, hours, same difference, right?

Cid cleared his throat, "We got some sort of an attack. It was on a civilian who was for some GOD DAMN reason struttin' around the forests of Gongaga like some bad ass..," Cid rambled and the rest of us waved him on. Cloud wasn't here to take charge. "Well, anyways, we gotta go be '_heroes,'" _He said the word like it was virus, "Again. So get your guns, get your swords, get your muther fuckin' children for gods sakes, cause we're going out in the field," He said this like we hadn't fought in decades. It was at the most, a year since one of us had fought. And that's probably Caith Sith because he's a wimpy little cat.

Now, me, I train. I train like if an actual train was coming straight for me I'd be able to stop it. I was ready for this.

Barrett eyed Marlene. "I ain't bringing my _child _out where it's _dangerous_, are you batshit crazy?"

Marlene stood next to her father with clenched fists. "Yeah, Mr. Highwind (Cid was _terrible_ with kids.) are you crazy?" and for a moment I really, really wanted her to say batshit but she didn't and I was sad.

Barrett turned to her. "Marlene, you go start dinner," and I almost choked on my spit but then I remembered she could make a martini at the age of four.

After Marlene left, Cid just stood there for a moment. We were all probably really unsure on what to do because Cloud wasn't there to give us step by step directions, because he was focused on 'more important things' like having a baby. Cid tapped his foot lightly and grunted.

"What are ya'll _doin'? _We got people out there! Move your asses!" And I moved my ass like a mastered Knights of the Round was waiting for me on the other side of the airship. And I moved so fast I doubt anyone could see me. And I moved so fast I had forgotten to close the chocobo room's door.

* * *

><p>"Marlene, Marlene, <em>Marlene<em>, are you sure? Positive? Not one sight of fluff? Fur? Anything?"

"Nah, Yuffie. Didn't see a thing," She took a bite of the pizza she ordered.

"But, but you love animals? Right? Couldn't you have like, sensed it?"

"Not really, Yuffie. I killed my own pet rock," to which I asked myself _how stupid of a daughter did Barrett raise _and sighed.

"Ugh. You're no help at all! But, like, don't tell anyone about this, kays? This is our little secret," I told her and she nodded dumbly, going back to the pizza she held in her hands. It was nasty pizza, too. She ordered it from the Kalm Pizzeria because Gongaga was too emo to have its own pizza store, let alone a bathroom.

I would have fed my pieces to Attaboy but he had _fucking ran away into oblivion. _

We saved some girl who was being attacked by an Allemagne and yeah yeah yeah we kicked ass like always and took names like always and got gil like always and were awesome like always yeah yeah yeah _I wanted my dog back_.

I had come back from a like, five minute battle, Vincent taking out the things single eye with his Death penalty, Red scratching its back, me slicing off the wings, and Cid taking the last stab to the heart. Cait Sith just sat there and was a wussy. He's always a wussy without his mog.

It was five minutes, plus the five minutes we spent talking before and afterwards. (The afterwards conversation was me telling Vincent that he got blood on his cape but I couldn't see it because it blended in.) Fifteen minutes. The stupid dog ran away in fifteen minutes.

I had left the door wide open when I ran out because of the intercom. I didn't even noticed until I was walking back and saw the door, obviously, wide open. And then I panicked. What if he was still in the airship? What if he had found Red and they were in an epic battle of animal-ness? I would actually pay to see that, and then cry when Attaboy gets his ass whooped.

But there would be no ass whooping because the stupid dog had escaped and I had checked absolutely everywhere, every single room. Even Cloud and Tifa's room, I even went underneath their bed. (I was sorta hoping to find sex toys but came back empty.) But I found nothing, not even a trail of hair.

My first reaction was: _That stupid piece of shit dog, no one loved it anyway. If it really wanted to run away why didn't it just say so? It was just a retarded idiotic drooling animal, and now I am totally a cat person. I love cats. Come here Red._

And I think I did go to Red and got a wonderful 'wtf' look when I curled up next to him and hugged the life out of him, and it wasn't only from him, but everyone else in the room too, including the workers. Stupid workers. Dorks.

But I didn't care because I missed animals and I didn't consider Cait Sith an animal, he was just annoying. I don't think Cloud even liked him either, he never used him much in battle and he just sat there, weak and boring and I wish Reeve took his place for the rest of his entire robotic life.

My second reaction was: _All of that hard work of getting chicken nuggets for nothing._

My third reaction was: sadness. After hugging Red to death, I had gotten up and went into my room. As a tradition, I forgot the close the door and was just sitting on my bed with my hands on my lap. And then I felt bored.

I think that I lost my adrenaline right at that point. Hiding Attaboy had given me that rush of excitement I had felt from back in my days in AVALANCHE and I really, really liked it. It was fun, actually, having to sneak him food for like a week and tell no one of his existence and make sure noone randomly bought a chocobo. He had given me some sort of happiness and amusement, and I was attached to him.

I had lost things before, yeah. I lost the ribbon my mother had given to me before she passed away (love you, mama!) and cried my freaking eyes out because I think my father was more upset than I was. I lost one of Cloud's materia's that I stole, and I promised myself I'd give it back to him. But after I lost it all I could see on his face when he was sad, even if it was because of Aerith and not me, was him missing that small little ball that held the "Counter Attack" magic.

We had like, twenty of those, but I had thought that one was super important to him and _almost almost almost _(it's always almost) gave him my own. But I was too selfish for that.

But I had lost a life this time, but only in the sense that I didn't know where it went. And it sort of hurt, to know that because of my own forgetfulness he was out in the world without anyone to guide him. Even if he was a dog and had his own survival instincts.

I but my lip and squeezed my hands tighter together. I could shake this feeling like I had _failed someone-_

"Are you okay?"

It was a simple three word question, and I shook it off like I had imagined it. But I hadn't, because it was crisp and clear and I'm pretty GOD DAMN sure that if I had a conscious it wouldn't sound like a 57 year old man. Or a 27 year old one. However old Vincent was. That's right.

Once again, for the second time in the past week, I was tempted to tell him to 'fuck the hell off' even though I didn't want to do that, at all. I didn't look at him.

"I'm Yuffie. I'm never okay. I'm either really, really happy, or really, really pissed off," I told him, noticing my fingernails needed trimming.

"You seem to be neither of those," He said to me, his voice slick and smooth and soft. But it was rough, too, like someone smashing two rocks together to make fire. And that was the stupidest comparison I've ever made in my entire life.

"Yeah, well, a girl can change," I said sassily, narrowing my eyes as if I was looking at him instead of my own fingers.

"Is this about that dog you were hiding in the chocobo storage facility?" _Chocobo storage facility_. Jeez, Vincent, lighten up, please. And then my brain took in what he said to me and stiffened. He knew? How did he know? I thought I had kept it a secret…well…as well as I could. I was a ninja, for god's sake! I could hide a dog! I could hide a mother fucking dragon!

I was about to ask him how he knew but then he said, "I heard you laughing."

Oh. _Ooooooh. _I guess that makes sense, then. That dog was amusing! Really, really amusing! In ways that I couldn't explain because it was 'you had to be there' experience and you obviously had to be in the same room to get it.

"The little fucker," I muttered, whispered, quietly, "He….got away from me," I refused to tell him I lost him, because for some reason I couldn't be _that_ much of a child in front of Vincent. I felt as if I had to be mature around him, and it was unlike anything I've ever felt before. I was always the child, even now, when I'm twenty. I guess everyone just still saw me as the stupid sixteen year old girl they kicked the crap out of four years ago.

Vincent stayed silent, so I filled in the silence for him.

"I fed him Tifa's chicken nuggets. Do you think that was a bad idea? I mean, maybe it was….because Tifa can open a can of whoop ass faster than anyone I know. And that whole bucket incident thing..., well, that was for him, too. I named him Attaboy. Isn't that stupid? Maybe he got away," I refused to say I lost him, "because he hated his name so much. But he was really fun to talk to even though all he did was eat and wag his tail. I think there was something wrong with him."

There was an awkward pause which was a normal occurrence if you ever want to have an actual conversation with Vincent. "Dogs have instincts. Your…dog's," I think he didn't want to say his name, "instincts most likely told him to escape from the vicinity that had insufficient nutrition," Hey! Insufficient nutrition! I said that once, didn't I? Oh my gawd, I was _Vincent_ smart! "Not because of the owner that had him encased there."

These words he was saying had some sort of ring to them, albeit a small and quiet and dull ring mostly because it was Vincent, that made my stomach feel less barfy. It took me awhile to decode them, and in that while a dry silence came between us. I really hoped he was thinking about something too, instead of thinking about how awkward this situation was.

I think he was comforting me? I spoke these words with a squeak and a blush inside my heads. I mean, the thought wasn't that preposterous. Didn't I say just awhile ago that the idea of me kissing Vincent was actually sort of believable? So should the idea of Vincent comforting me be even _more_ believable? Unless you think that comforting someone is more of a milestone than kissing, but that's for _your _crazy head to decide.

After all of this thinking I actually thought I was kissing him for a moment and started to move my lips in a motion I had assumed was similar to kissing. (I didn't know, honest. My only kiss was with Cloud…that time at the Golden Saucer….yeah.) And then I thanked every single god I even thought about or knew for my head being down and facing my lap. I then snapped my head back up to look at him so I would never hallucinate like that again.

I think he was comforting me.

"You think so? I don't know. Maybe I _lost him,_" I gave in and faced the truth, even though the actual truth was just that he ran away.

"Hmm," Vincent hummed from the doorway. I knew Vincent was always the one of saving people (mostly because he's saved me like, _two whole times_) but not for verbal confrontations like these. I wondered if he was drunk.

I decided not to ask, simply to not be rude (lie) and ruin the mood. "But, um, thanks, I guess. For worrying," and I didn't think he was worrying at all. Maybe a little bit, underneath all of his fabric of clothes and emotions. But I didn't bother to think too hard about it.

"I wasn't worrying," He said and my thoughts were proven true and incorrect at the same time, "Simply…..," he paused.

"Curious," He said and walked away from my bedroom and into the hallway.

I snorted. "Goodnight to you, too," I whispered to no one and wished for Attaboy back. If he was there I would put him up in my own bed and hug him until I fell asleep. I think I missed him. A little bit.

Swallowing, I closed my bedroom door with a kick of my foot, promptly waking up Cid, the person with the bedroom next to me.

"Keep it down, will ya! Some people are tryin' to get some _shut eye!" _He yapped from his bed, probably in a sleeping cap and matching pajama shirts and bottoms. I would pay big money to see that. Or just bet off my three-star Shiva. She was an overused whore anyways.

"Goodnight to you….too," I said to no one again and peeled out of my pants and took off my shirt and hopped into the shower. While rubbing shampoo into my hair, I wished for it to be longer, like Aerith's, so I could finally feel like a girl. And Vincent probably just wanted to see why I was all pouty because he was bored. I bet he didn't even care.

And I bet Cid's in there crying because he can't see his wifey-wife. And I bet Barrett is sad because he can't fit into his bed because he's so big. And I bet Cait Sith and Red are upset because they don't have opposable thumbs. And I bet Cloud's angry because the doctor said he can't have sex with Tifa anymore. And I bet Tifa's depressed because she's as big as a cow.

And I bet Attaboy is happy he got away from me.

And I bet my dad is smiling because I'm not home.

And I bet Vincent is glad that I'm so upset.

And I bet that I'm not okay.

* * *

><p><em>Hey look guys! Actual plot!<em>

_I told you this story was long. I enjoy long, huge chapters. They're fun to scroll through when you post them_

_I would also like to take this time to honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Today is the ten year anniversary and I still cry at the sight of those two towers. Let us never forget._

_Stay tuned for more chapters. Chapter two is sitting in my documents, screaming to be published. But I gotta get some feedback first :)_

_Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 2

_Oh jeez you guys...this is short. Embarrassingly so. It's almost half the size of chapter one. But I promise, chapter three is about 7-8 thousand I think. And it's also one of my favorite chapters. So bear with me here. :)_

_If any of you guys were wondering, this name of this story comes from the song "Chopped Hops and Bottled Self Esteem" by Bayside. The song actually didn't inspire this story at all, I just LOVE BAYSIDE WITH ALL OF MY BEING. So go listen if you want to. It's not even my favorite song by them. Bottled Self Esteem just works with this story._

_This chapter's kinda a filler. But it's still good. I suppose. Go read now :)_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO<strong>

Cid woke me up the next day as some sort of revenge, I think. It was seven thirty in the morning (I usually crack my eyes open at around ten and then just lie in bed for another fifteen minutes until I get enough will power to move.) and my curtains were actually drawn this time so I could have slept in even later than I usually did. But, of course, god hates me and decided to send something to disrupt my well deserved rest.

He was kicking on the bottom of my door. At first, it was super light and barely noticeable. A simple _tap-tap-tap_ and then a pause. The pause would be for three seconds exactly and then it would start up again, only a tiny bit louder. I noticed it on the very first tap because sometimes I wake myself up with my own snoring. My eyebrows furrowed lightly and my mind shook it off and I went back to my dreaming.

By the time he got to the fourth round it was pretty obvious. The kicks were hard and sturdy and my door was beginning to shake. This forced me to unlatch my hands from my pillow and chuck it at whoever was trying to disrupt my sleep. I mean, _come on_. I had just lost my dog for god's sake. Maybe it wasn't _my_ dog, but I was connected to it. And of course no one knew this except for Vincent so I had to go around being fake happy today and I hate doing that.

The feather pillow hit the door almost deftly. It didn't make a sound except for moving the door back towards Cid which made him yell out in surprise.

"_Wake up, ya runt!" _He said from behind the door, kicking my door more wildly. I growled and reached for another pillow to throw but found a better alternative.

"Watch it, Cid!" I mumbled into the air, trying to get a threat out of my sleep induced mind, "or I'll tear apart this ship with my bare….hands…."

Cid let out a sharp laugh, his accent rising up and drawing it out. "Cloud couldn't even do that with his fuckin' Omnislash or whatever the hell that thing was. I'd like to see ya _try_."

"_Goooo awaaaayyyy_," I moaned from my bed, placing a pillow over my head. I just wanted to sleep. Was that so bad to ask for? And why the hell was Cid up so early anyways?

"Nu-uh! You woke me up last night for no GOD DAMN reason, so I'm waking you up for no GOD DAMN reason!" Jesus, some men have a thing for revenge, don't they? This was a bit outrageous, I thought. Even for Cid, this was unnecessary.

"Fine! _Fine! _I'll get up, ya old man! Just go away!" I yelled and got no response. I waiting a few seconds, thinking he was playing a trick on me, but then I came to the conclusion he had just left. And that was totally fine with me.

_What a fool_, I had thought, because he had left so easily. Now I could just go back to sleep. Simple as that. Snap of the fingers and BAM! His whole revenge could be considered pointless. And he could be the one wandering around the Shera this early instead of me.

But Cid was smart in some ways and I must give him credit to that. I had flopped and turned and groaned and tried to relax every muscle in my body until I gave up. Stupid hick. No one _even liked him._

I should stop dissing everyone in my mind. What if Barrett was secretly a mind reader? No, no, more like Red would be, because he got experimented on. But so was Vincent. But Vincent got things put inside his _own_ head, so Red would be my best bet. I should have started to watch my thoughts around him.

But all in all, I couldn't get back to sleep and was then reduced to walking to halls of the Shera in a very bored manner, passing Cid many times and sticking my tongue at him with a wicked expression on my face. He just returned it all with an upturn of his middle finger.

I watched some television, catching up on the news around the world. Did you know that Rocket Town is having a 5% increase in population in the past four years? It's probably because after Cid got married he finally lost his virginity (because honestly, who would do him?) and made Shera pregnant like, four times without her knowing. And then they'd have quadruplets and name them all after me.

And then I tried flying the ship for approximately 2.5 seconds, my timing being terrible mostly because Cid decided to end his Trek Around The Airship at that moment and actually do his job. It then hit me, after he yelled at me with all of his fury, that no one flies the airship at night and I was shocked about how we weren't dead yet.

After I expressed this thought to Cid he spit the words, "There's a thing called autopilot, idiot. And I thought_ Cloud _was dimwitted," to which I thought 'Jesus, people are mean in the morning!'

So I decided to leave by the time it was around nine. I was heading back down the halls (I think I was unconsciously heading to go see Attaboy.) when my stomach growled and I remembered I hadn't eaten dinner the night before because Marlene ordered really nasty pizza from Kalm. And everyone knows Kalm makes really shitty pizza.

So I turned around on my heel to head back to the kitchen. I almost sort of ran because I was afraid that my stomach was going to eat itself. But then I got a hold of myself and slowed down, making sure I didn't get sick again. If I didn't mention it before, Reeve gave me three boxes of Dramamine for my birthday and they were helping greatly.

I found Tifa sitting down at the kitchen table, one hand on her stomach, feet propped up on the chair next to her. It was sort of funny, because I knew that if she wasn't pregnant she would never sit like that, ever. So I gave her a look and she just smiled at me.

"Oh! Yuffie! Good morning!" She said and I let out a sigh of relief that today was a happy day and not an angry day. So I smiled back and waved.

"Mornin'," I told her and sat across from her, almost expecting here to stand up and go start breakfast because, ya know, she was a woman. And woman should be making food and oh my god I wish I was as feminine as Tifa. I don't know why but I wished people made women jokes about me. But all I am is a little girl.

Once she noticed my staring she just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. I frowned.

"Are you…?"

"Ugh, Yuffie, it took me about twenty minutes to get from my bedroom to here. Isn't that pathetic? I helped kill Sephiroth only four years ago and now look at me! I can barely walk!" _Oh..oh no_ I had thought, already feeling the water works coming on and me having to clean them up _again_.

"Well, Tifa, you are, ya know, carrying another _human being _inside of you. I bet you couldn't have killed Sephiroth like this either," I said and I guess that wasn't the smartest thing to say because she shot her head to me and put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes watered and I let out a high pitched whine in protest.

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that! Oh, gawd, um, what I meant was that you're a lot different now…," and this made her sniffle more, "no, like, you're a lot older," a wail, "and, like, a lot bigger," she was starting to sob and I didn't know how to make it stop, "…..but in a good way!"

My face was bright red and my hands were out in front of me, palms outstretched and mouth wide open. I was shaking them around in hopes to wash away everything that just happened and to make Tifa stop crying.

"Tifa?" Cloud said from behind me, rushing over to her side and putting two hands on her shoulders. He didn't even look at me, his eyes locked onto his wife's red ones. She was crying into her hands hysterically, muttering things I couldn't hear. Cloud moved his hands to rub his back.

I raised one hand to scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

"Aw, shit, Cloud, I didn't mean to, honest. I was trying to cheer her up," I told him.

He glared at me with narrow eyes and a pouty face. At first I was afraid of him, not sure what to do. I wasn't good in these types of situations. He seemed very angry with me.

"You made her this upset?" Yup, totally angry.

"All I did was try and comfort her!" My stomach growled and I moaned. Cloud ignored me and went back to comforting his wifey wife. Barf.

Tifa's sobs began to lighten up and her breathing calmed down. Cloud tried wiping her tears away but was _rejected_ by Tifa wiping her own away. Girl power!

"I-it wasn't Yuffie's fault…," she murmured and I let out a sigh of relief.

"See? Now, Tifa," I started, my hands on my aching stomach, "Why don't you go and relax by cooking up a nice meal? I heard doing your favorite hobbies helps calm people down!" I said cheerily, a grin on my face. Maybe I was finally making her happy-

"I…am not….**your maid**!" She said slowly and it became louder and louder with every word she let out. By the time she reached 'maid' my eyes were as wide as saucers and my heart was coming out of my ass. Jesus..um….I should have said something better than I did. I was so stupid!

"Right! Right, of course not!" I laughed, scratching my head some more. _You got this, Yuffie. Use your schmoozer skills._

"Here, Teefs, you go back to bed, mkays?" I said and Cloud's face turned from flames of anger to agreement, "And I'll made breakfast!" I didn't know how to cook shit. (I'm seriously I don't even know how to cook poop. But I don't think anyone does so-) "And I'll bring it to your bed! And you can read your baby books and Cloud can massage your feet and you can focus on things other than...," not being able to fight Sephiroth and how much more weak you are now even though it's because you're _fucking pregnant_.

"…me screwing up all the time," and I said this with a smile because it was true.

And Tifa smiled with me and Cloud took her hand and helped her up. She stood with difficulty for she was now around seven months full of baby. The married couple went off on their own way, Cloud holding her hand with one hand and the other one on her back, supporting her. And he always there, for once. Instead of how it was four years ago when Tifa was always following behind Cloud in all that he did, Cloud was the one behind her. Whipped? I think yes.

I was almost going to go back to my room but then I remembered I had to make dinner.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" I said out loud to no one and stood up from my chair.

I had never cooked anything in my life other than cereal and burnt meat in the forests when I was running around like an asshole. In Wutai (which I hate) the stupid servants made me stupid food every morning and afternoon and night and all I did was make cereal when I was being a brat and wanted to do things myself. Which was almost every day I lived there.

So I opened up the refrigerator door and peered inside. There was milk, frozen pancakes, chicken nuggets, tons and tons of fruit, ground beef, butter and shrimp. I recalled Barrett complaining about the lack of meat in the refrigerator (even though we had more meat than anything else.) and that we had to stop soon for groceries.

Now that was always a fun event. We stopped almost every two weeks to go grocery shopping, which consisted of each of us scrambling up our money (Except for Vincent, he just casually pulled out his wad of gil from his pocket and bought a bottle of water.) and sprinted around the shop to buy whatever sweets we wanted. Cid mostly just bought booze and cigarettes, though.

I bought candy! And ice cream! But I shared it with no one, because it was my GOD DAMN money and it was my candy. But I stole everyone else's because I'm a bitch.

So I grabbed the bag of shrimp and set it on the counter. I had never seen anyone cook shrimp before. All I knew that it was tasty. Not exactly good for breakfast….but I wasn't serving everyone a huge bowl of Raisin Bran Flakes for breakfast. I had to prove myself!

I took a large…um….well it looked like a bowl cut in half with a handle coming out of it. People cooked eggs on it before, I know that. But I honestly had no idea what it was called. And I still don't. I still make other people cook for me because I'm a lazy ass.

I turned on the stove and set the shrimp, which were still bagged, on the counter. Setting the….half bowl with a handle thing on it onto the stove, I waited for it to get hot. At one point I got really, really bored and touched the bottom of the pan like thing, only to have the tips of my fingers burnt bright red.

I hissed in pain and put cold water on them and decided the pan was hot enough.

I sent the raw shrimpies to their death even though they were already dead. It was sort of awesome, seeing them sizzle against the oil I had set in the pan because it seemed like a good idea.

I let them cook for awhile, not really sure when to flip them over. I let the shrimps sit on one side for about eight minutes because that's how long it took me to take a shower once. And if I, a girl, can clean her entire body and hair in eight minutes then shrimp can surely cook enough in that amount of time.

So after eight minutes I returned from my reading of 'The Daily Junon!' and grabbed a spatula. (I only know what it was called because Tifa once smacked me over the head with one.) Gently, I pried the stubborn shrimp from off of the now steaming pan thing.

It was black. Blacker than Barrett in the sun. It was burnt to a crisp and I frowned. Eight minutes was _obviously_ too much time. Maybe if I served it with the actually cooked side up, no one will notice.

So I flipped the whole batch of shrimp over to their other sides and shook the pan around in hopes to make them cook faster. So if eight minutes was too much….then would six be good enough? Or five? I honestly didn't know. I was more of a killer and not a cooker.

This time I watched the small sea creatures cook, sprinkling salt on them softly to give them flavor. Maybe some butter, too, later on. Or maybe right now.

And then I grabbed a tub of butter from the fridge and slowly and painstakingly spread butter on each and every last shrimp. The steam burnt my hands but I really, really wanted Tifa to have a good breakfast so I fed up with it.

Five minutes passed so I decided to flip the shrimps to find them only a little less burnt than the first set. Okay, they weren't as badly burnt, are they were still a little bit pink. But other than that, they were as delectable as Cait Sith naked. Even though he was always naked.

I sighed, totally disappointed in myself. But it brushed it off and drained the oil and butter that was running off of the now 'cooked' shrimp into the sink. I took the sea creatures and put them on a plate.

I ground my teeth together. They looked terrible.

I grabbed a fork and jabbed one right in the middle with it, picking it up and setting it fully into my mouth. I let out a muffled yell at the temperature of the shrimp, mostly because they had _just_ come off of the stove.

They were buttery, and that was good at first when I hadn't bitten into it. And after I _had_ bitten into it, the extra salt I had put on it mixed with the already salty meat of the shrimp and it was really, really….well….salty.

It wasn't that bad of a thing, mostly because I loved salty things…like pretzels. But pretzels and shrimp were two totally different things.

I hoped Tifa's taste buds were so out of whack that she'd still like them.

I pondered on making some chicken nuggets to help make up for the bad food I had just made but decided against it when I remembered I actually couldn't because I had fed them all to that stupid, stupid dog.

So I set the shrimp on a plate and filled up a glass of water and made my way out of the kitchen. No one was nearby so I could make my way to Tifa's room without any critique on my cooking skills. But I'd have to suffer through Cloud's silent yet judging glances I knew he would give me.

Tifa's door was already open so I slipped in carefully because my hands were full. When they noticed me, Cloud sitting on Tifa's side of the bed and Tifa bundled up in the covers, both of their heads turned in question.

I grinned, "I brought munchies!"

Tifa smiled at me gently, obviously forgetting the whole episode that only happened like, thirty minutes ago. I smiled back as much as I could and tried to set down the shrimp and _get the hell out of there_ as fast as I could incase she threw another fit.

"Thank you, Yuffie," Tifa said warmly from behind me. I was already heading out the door.

I grumbled, "No problem," but it was a problem because I was probably going to disappoint her. And for the first time I didn't wanna be the one that made everyone upset.

* * *

><p>I was watching television in the rec room when Cid burst into my life <em>once again<em>. I really, really, really wanted to tell him to go away but he sat his ass down next to me and didn't even try to pretend that he was watching television.

"What." I said, flipping the channels angrily.

He laughed, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"So, I was talkin' to Cloud this morning'," And ooooooooooooh lord my shrimp was terrible, wasn't it?

"Uh huh," I said. I wasn't really paying attention. I kind of didn't want to know how my shrimp gave food poisoning and Vincent had to give her CPR with his sexy lips- wait what.

"And he said next stop's Wutai. Thought you'd wanna know," and he propped his feet up on the table in front of us and my thumb stopped jamming the buttons on the remote. My face was blank and my muscles were tense and my brain was rendering what just happened.

I didn't want to go to Wutai _but oh my god we were going to Wutai._

The grinding of my teeth continued until they became small little nubs in the back of my mind. Wutai was where my father was. Currently, I actually _wasn't _disowned, only slightly hated, but my father always slightly hated me. And life was going pretty okay right now and I really, really didn't want to ruin it with a visit from my father. More like my father getting a visit from me.

I thought Cid was going to poke me when I didn't reply for so long, but finally I noticed that the television was spewing out how to cook Sautéed Shrimp and that you should only cook it for one to two minutes. And my knuckles were white.

"Really?" I said, my eyes wide and sparkling. "That's so cool! _Woooooooooooohooooooo!" _and I pumped my fists high into the air and exclaimed whoops and yeahs happily. But they were all fake.

"Cloud thought ya'd be happy," and they all thought wrong.

"Oh, and squirt," he was standing up now, making his way to the door of the rec room. I didn't respond to the degrading nick name and kept my eyes fixed on the food show that was on T.V.

"Cloud said you made some _pretty shitty_ shrimp. Well, course he didn't say that, and Tifa was tellin' him that it was fine, but he said it was pretty darn nasty. Maybe ya should pay attention to the shows ya watch," he said and ruffled my hair and laughed as he walked away.

I swallowed and rubbed my tongue along my teeth. My hands were gripping the remote control so tightly that it promptly snapped in half, wires flooding out of the broken plastic or some shit. I threw the ruined remote control to the ground with anger and stood up.

My fists were clenched and no blood reached my hands until I reached my room and gave the wall a fucking hard punch, causing my own hand to bleed and a loud crash echo the room. I sighed and felt even more anger bubble up inside of me.

I didn't want to go to Wutai because all we would do was help snooty and stuck up people who didn't need help even though I think they were the ones who needed it the most. We'd give them canned food and all they would do was give it to the animals in the forests because _that's what Wutaians do. _And they'd eat their organic and natural food for dinner with hot tea and sing little Wutainese songs to their children and tuck them into bed.

And my father would greet me with such a glare that it'd make the elders pee their pants and then he'd hug the living shit out of me until I barfed out my own stomach. And then he'd invite everyone to dinner and everyone, especially Tifa, would hate the food because _only Wutaians like GOD DAMN Wutai food because it's way too spicy for anyone else's tastes. _And then we'd get in a huge fight over my not drinking tea because tea is fucking disgusting and it'd be horrible.

And I didn't want to go to Wutai at all. Even though I missed the open fields and the little kids who I watched become taken over by the Geostigma. And the mountains and the fellow ninjas and everything that makes Wutai awesome. Which actually isn't a lot but whatever does is pretty freaking awesome.

And through all of these thoughts I was beating the living shit out of the poor wall that I looked just like. And I can't cook shrimp! At all!

"Are you okay?" a voice said from behind me but I could barely hear it over the sound of the wall dying.

I let out an angry "!" in response except it wasn't that violent and it was more like a sigh that began with an R. So I just gave the wall one last punch and didn't turn around.

"Vincent, can I live in your cape?" I asked him because I'd much rather be there than heading straight for the one place that was going to tear me apart.

He grunted again, like he always does, and disregarded me completely. "I thought you'd be happy," he said.

I snorted, beginning to sound like him. "Yeah, cause we're going to Wutai, right? Course, I'm _elated_," and I've never used that word in my life before that day. And it felt weird because I usually don't use _super big intelligent words_ because, as my father once put it, 'I don't even have a brain.'

"You aren't exactly….convincing, Yuffie," he murmured deeply. I rolled my eyes. Who was he to judge me?

"Well you aren't exactly the best talker, either," and I was being mean but I couldn't help it. If there was one thing Vincent wasn't, it was mean. He may be silent, but I don't think I've ever heard him ring out a curse or vile statement to someone who didn't deserve it. That being said, there have been many people who have deserved it.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair when he didn't reply. "Sorry," I said, short and whiney. I huffed. I was being a brat.

"It's just, I just wanted for Tifa to, ya know….ugh, never mind, I'm super bad at this…," I said.

I could _feel _his eyebrows rise. "What does Tifa have to do with this?"

My lips quirked upwards, "How do you even know that something's wrong?" I asked him.

"Your hand is bleeding profusely due to your beating of it on the wall. People generally don't do that when they're joyful," he said.

_Well no one asked you_ I thought but then I remembered that someone _totally did _ask him and all he did was answer me. I hummed in response. I gave him no more.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked and then started up again, "Well all…care for your wellbeing," he said.

"Huh," I said questionably, "Like who?" I was being stubborn.

"When I said all I meant the whole number of us on this ship," he said like BAM! Straight out of a dictionary, this kid was. I almost laughed at the nerdiness of it all.

"I…I burnt Tifa's breakfast…I really wanted to make it special and yummy, but I guess I couldn't. Do you know that I don't know what the thing is called that you cook them in? Maybe that's why they tasted so bad…because I didn't even know what to call the supplies. Is that pathetic? Maybe it is, I guess, maybe I should just not cook ever again and let Red do it. I should just sit and be stupid, cuz that's when people seem to like me the most," I said.

There was a pause.

"It's a frying pan," he said softly. I turned around and looked at him. He was wearing his red cape and stupid boots and looked like the Vincent I've always known.

"What?" I asked.

"You cooked shrimp on a frying pan. You forgot to clean it so I took the liberty to," He said and I blushed. Vincent was cleaning up after me and it was embarrassing.

"Ah, Vince, that's stupid. You're stupid," I blurted out and he frowned. "Ah…ahaha, I didn't mean that," I continued to scratch the back of my head, "What I mean is…don't clean up after me…," I paused and got dark, "ever."

He seemed to be silenced.

"You won't know what I'll leave behind, ya know? Hahahaha," And I was about to go on about how if he continued to clean up after me he'd end up being my personal waste cleaner but we didn't need to go into that.

"Yuffie," He said and I looked at him, my hand returning to my side, "We all don't like you best when you act stupid," and I wondered _then when the hell do you like me? When I'm dying? _Because I'm stupid almost all of the time.

"Heh, well, that's a new one!" I exclaimed.

He looked at me and I wondered why he even cared. Why was he doing this all over again? "Are you okay?" He asked again.

And I smiled for real this time and told him, "Yeah. Don't worry about me," and I let out a shaky laugh and looked to the ground and wished that he actually would worry about me because I'm going to need some caring if I break.

I looked up when the silence returned and found him to be gone. And my eye twitched and I almost resorted to punching the wall again but I stopped myself. I took a deep break and cracked my knuckles. If he actually cared would he actually have stayed?

But I guess that's just a Vincent thing, something so strange and I wasn't able to figure it out. He said what he had to and then left. But did he actually have to tell me all of that? I guess he just said all that he had to say and didn't feel the need to say goodbye. I mean, his goodbye after we defeated Sephiroth was a simple 'Bye,' for god's sake….what could I expect?

So like always I jumped into the shower, hissing in pain as my forgotten hand hit the boiling hot water. (I had a thing for really, really hot showers)I had to resort to letting It hang outside of the shower curtain and because the water had washed away the clots that were beginning to form and stop the bleeding, (Smartest thing I've ever said.) so I was staining the rug outside my shower every minute I took a shower.

By the time I was cleaned (with one hand) my bathroom was covered in steam and every breath I took was hot. I rinsed my hand with cold water from the sink and wrapped myself in a tower, getting into pajamas shortly after. I made my way to the kitchen at about eight that night, in my pajamas, and totally not giving a fuck.

My hand ached and knuckles were on fire and my brain was all philosophical about Vincent. But I put these thoughts to rest, along with the idea of heading Wutai. By that time all I was focused on was preparing a bowl of Raisin Bran Flakes correctly.

* * *

><p><em>I told you it was short. Ehehehehehe.<em>

_Guess what lucky girl got tickets to go see Owl City on November 16th? THIS CHICK. BE JEALOUS. _

_I guess I'll start updating every weekend now. There are a total of eight chapters in this story, each around 10,000 words minus this one. If I had broken them up into about...3,000 words per chapter this would be your regular 20-30 chaptered story. But I like long chapters! Yay!_

_Also, anyone have any good sites to buy Homecoming dresses on? I have a date! :DDD!_

_Well, that is all. Please review and thank you so much for reading!_


	4. Chapter 3

_It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friiiday..._

_Get down and read my story._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER THREE<strong>

So I made the Raisin Bran Flakes without fail, you guys, so you shouldn't worry about that. It was sort of perfect and awesome at the same time, too, because I had filled the bowl three quarters the way full with the nasty flakes and then finished off the carton of milk _exactly_. It was like god wanted me to stop trying to cook and do something I actually knew how to do.

I didn't have anyone's bowl to spit the raisins into so I had to maneuver around them and it actually provided to be quite difficult. They ended up sliding to the bottom of my spoon and out of my line of sight by some strange force of gravity. And that made them end up into my mouth to my great displeasure. It was gross but at the same time it added something sickeningly sweet to the otherwise tasteless cereal.

But other than that my life returned to the boring and kinda anxiety filled way it was. The anxiety was new addition, though, because of Cid's flying of the ship to Wutai. I had to bite my lip every time they said a word containing my home village and after awhile I couldn't tell if it was excitement or fear.

My mind kept telling me to _run away run away run away_ from it all because I knew that going to Wutai would just be bad for everyone involved. But my heart was telling me that it was time to visit my father again.

Cracking my knuckles became a new anxiety releaser, simply because it took my mind off of the whole situation. I'd wake up in the morning and snap my neck and curl my toes. I'd do every finger individually and turn my back to the side and hear the satisfying 'snaps' they produced.

I'd find myself walking around the Shera and cracking my knuckles almost every hour. It kind of got annoying after awhile, and after another while my fingers began to hurt and not pop anymore. So I bit my nails.

It didn't really help at all and only made me a bit more nervous, like every time I popped a joint or nibbled on my finger nails the image of my father's ancient face crept into my mind.

I found myself picking up my Conformer, too, ever since we had to beat up that Allemagne. It was as if my ripped apart fingers wanted to return to the slashing they were so used to only four years ago. And I really wanted to, too, because I missed burning off so much steam in such little time.

I guess that's why I had been so emotional lately, that or I was on my period. When was the last time that little sucker had come around, too? I could hardly remember and I guess that was a good thing even though_ oh my god what if I was pregnant_.

And then I remembered that the last time I had ever seen a man's wang was back in the ninja academy when I was seven and they decided to teach us about male anatomy at _the age of seven years old. _But I guess Wutai always was for growing up early.

So I couldn't be pregnant because no man had ever even touched me in a way other than a hug. Or a carry, like Vincent did with the whole Deepground incident. _And boy did I enjoy that_.

Right then I was sitting with my back against the wall in the hallway just by the main door to the command room. I held my ultimate weapon in my hand, letting my fingers run over the edges affectionately. I was thinking about how I would walk up to Cid and tell him to park this GOD DAMN ship of his and drop me off. Or just drop me off. Let me fly all the way to the ground and magically not die from the speed I'd hit the ground.

I'd fight the bitching monsters and save the bitching people and get the bitching money. Just like all ninjas should. Maybe I should make that my ninja way: Do it Like A Bitch. Or: The Bitch Way. Or: Dude, Where's My Bitch?

Even though the last one didn't really make sense.

But Tifa was being a bitch enough as it is, and I knew _exactly _where she was. (Today: snuggling up next to Cloud and vomiting her guts out. Not at the same time, I hope to god. Cloud's a strong man, but not even Leviathan could deal with being covered in pregnant woman barf.

I heard footsteps all around me; let it be workers or Red's four paws working away. It seemed as if everyone was working except for me.

Cid was flying the freaking ship, Reeve was organizing the WRO, Barrett was spending quality time with Marlene, and Vincent was working on showing his emotions more. And it was sorta working! I was proud.

Red and I were kinda just chilling, lazing about until we made our next stop. (Well, not anymore.) My routine changed from waitwaitwait HELP PEOPLE! Waitwaitwait to PEE PANTS waitwaitpopjoints. I guess it wasn't a good transition but I could deal with it for now.

And then I think the best day of my life came when the intercom beeped above me and I slid my Conformer back into its rightful place….which was my back. I waited for the timid voice of the worker to come on.

"_All right, listen up retards," _and I was kinda shocked because Cid usually leaves public speeches to the scared and wimpy, "_Today is very GOD DAMN important. If ya'll had forgotten already, it's me and Shera's first year." _

I heard Tifa's long and high pitched, "AWWWWWWWW," from down the hall.

"_And that means we're throwin' a muther fuckin' party!" _

I heard Barrett's grumbled angry reply and could imagine him covering Marlene's ears. It was useless though, cause I think Marlene knows more about vulgarity than I do even now. That's a lie.

And then I stopped. A party. Wutai throws old people and rice pudding parties. I would never see Cid there.

"_So hold onto your britches cause we're stopping in my hometown for a lil' bit to see Shera. This better be okay with all of ya'll, because if it isn't I don't give a fuck," _and with that the intercom went off.

Rocket Town? We were going to Rocket Town.

THANK YOU GOD.

And I said that out loud, really, really loudly, and I bet if Vincent were there he'd be all like "_Are you okaaaay?" _because that seems to be the only time he ever talks to me.

Actually, Vincent has gone all mystery man the past couple of days. Meaning only yesterday and today, of course. But the only time I see him around is when I get into my mope-y fits and I guess he has a 'Yuffie-Is-Being-Emotional Radar' because he seems to detect it pretty well.

Other than that, he's never around. I never see him eating meals or watching T.V. (but he rarely did that anyways.) or talking to Reeve through the stupid cat. I had wondered where he went and once went on a quite serious 'Lets-Find-Vincent!' treasure hunt but came out empty handed.

I had asked Cloud, I had asked Tifa, I had asked everyone. But they all just thought that he locked himself inside of his room like usual. And I guess that was really plausible because that's what he's always done when we're flying around and I was actually _really, really _more shocked at the fact that he was trying to (badly) comfort me than when he actually did it.

But right now I was happy so there was no need to Vincent to be concerned.

I stood up and made my way back to my bedroom. I walked past my bed and to the window that was across from the door on the other wall. I made sure not to look out it, simply because I didn't want to upchuck all over my Conformer, which I was setting down. I propped it up against the wall and almost waved goodbye to it. But in these past few days I was trying super duper hard to not be a kid anymore and more like the adult I was.

Maybe I was doing this because of Wutai. Maybe I was doing it for myself. Maybe I was doing it for Aerith. Who knows?

But as I was walking back to the hallway to go give Cid the biggest bro-hug he'd ever receive in his entire life (and the loudest 'GET SOME!') I caught my reflection in the mirror.

My hair was still like it's always been, short and black with a headband tied around my forehead. And I was still wearing pants. Other than Cid and Shera being married for a whole year, (I don't know how she puts up with him.) I thought that was a cause for celebration. Maybe, with a little bit of bartering and a long 'But I turn 21 in ten months!' I'd be able to drink that night!

_That's_ what also sucked. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in our group was over 21. Except for Red but he doesn't count because he's a cat. But we'd go out to bars for celebrations and let's not forget that _Tifa and Cloud lived in one_ and they'd all have a whiskey or wine and they'd plop me with a Shirley temple.

And by midnight they'd all be wasted, (except for Vincent who would casually sip at his beer yet stay completely normal; see my argument on him getting drunk in chapter one) belting out old songs from their childhood or talking about if Sephiroth was gay he'd be much easier to fight because Cloud was so sexy. And I'd just sit there in the back, trying to join in, but I wasn't _drunk enough _and I wasn't drunk at all.

It was upsetting, to say the least.

Maybe I should change, too, because I think these pants were beginning to stink. So I peeled them off and threw them onto the floor so I would clean them up later (even though that would never happen.) and picked out a white skirt. It was short, duh, but I was Yuffie Kisaragi and ninja's can't wear much clothing.

I pulled my sneakers back on (the orange ones from when I was sixteen, still love them, to this day.) and made my way to the command room. I saw the other's gathered there as well.

"Okay!" I said loudly, making myself known, "When we landing?"

"Don't piss your pants!" Cid said from above me, "It takes awhile to land this son of a bitch."

"But isn't Shera a girl?" I asked.

"Well of _course_ she's a girl! She's my GOD DAMN wife!"

"But you said son-"

"Yuffie, please," Tifa said, smiling at me and waddling into the room with Cloud right behind her. I gasped.

"Tifa!" I exclaimed, "You're coming to party with us!" Sweet! Drunken pregnant ladies are always the best!

Tifa just laughed, "I'll be joining you in the sober side, tonight, Yuffie," and my happiness ended. My face dropped.

"About that…," I started, lacing my hands together. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You ain't getting a single _drop_ of alcohol, tonight, Yuffie. If there's _one_ person I'd never wanna see drunk in my entire life, it'd be you! Considering you act like you just drank (drunk, dranked, drunken?) a six pack of beer erryday of your _life,_" Barrett said from behind me, Marlene close behind and _oh my Marlene_ I'd have to sit at the kiddy table with her and Tifa _oh my god this is so sexist._

"What if a six pack was actually called a _sex pack_, doesn't that sound more appealing? Buy a sex pack and begin to get _down and dirrrrttty," _I said.

"Sometimes I wonder what fucked up thins' go on in your mind," Cid mumbled.

"I think everyone wonders that," Cloud said, giving me a mocking smile. I stuck my tongue out at him. I hated them all.

"I hate you all," I told them.

"We hate you, too," Reeve said from Cait Sith and I smiled. And then I knew we were a family.

We always were one, ever since that day that Cid joined our team. We were all one, big, complete thingamabob. That's the worst description ever but I didn't care because it described up perfectly. And we all had our faults, yes, sometimes Cid couldn't start up the Shera and something Cloud didn't know which way to go. And Barrett wouldn't know how to be angry anymore. And sometimes Tifa didn't know the right things to say and I forgot how to kick ass. (This was rare.) And Vincent forgot to be quiet and would actually talk (which was a good thing.) and Red wouldn't have any wisdom left in him. And Cait Sith would forget to be stupid and I'd actually like him for a little bit.

But all of these faults made up love (or hate, but in a loving way) each other more and more. Because _none_ of us were perfect in anyway, we all had cracks and we were all stupid but I preferred it that way.

And honestly, I think we were the stupidest people to ever try and save the world. Because, who woulda thought, that this random group of people who were all so different from each other could ban together and do something great? I wouldn't have if I wasn't a part of it.

So I smiled and punched Cait Sith in the face.

"Ouch! That hurt, ye wench!" the cat said, holding its nose.

"That was for Reeve, not you," I told him, folding my arms across my chest.

"So what! That doesn't mean it din't hurt like a beo-"

Cid cut him off, "Will ya'll stop with your babbling? We got parties to plan!"

I cheered, "Amen to that!"

We all burst into one, loud speech bubble that consisted of 'how long will we be there?' and 'we need to make our way to Wutai' (NOT from me.) and 'beer beer beer!' and especially: 'let Yuffie drink beer!' although I said that in the deepest voice I could muster to make it seem like Cloud or Barrett or even Vincent said it so people would agree.

No one seemed to acknowledge it so I was sad.

Cid cleared his throat, "Okay, so here's the deal. We're gonna land in Rocket Town, I'm gonna go get Shera and ya'll are gonna go into the pub, and I _hope_ ya'll remember where that is because if ya don't and end up breaking into someone's house and I'm gonna be _super pissed off._ But ya'll are gonna go and order as much beer as possible and I'm gonna bring in Shera and ya'll are gonna be all happy and fuck. Okay?"

"You mean it's a surprise party!" I said, excited.

"Shouldn't you take into consideration that three of us cannot drink alcohol?"-Tifa

"Well then you can have _a fucking Coke, _okay?" -Cid

"But what if Shera doesn't even drink!"-Me

"She's my GOD DAMN wife; I think I know what she fucking drinks!"-Cid

"What if she's cheating on you!"

"JESUS CHRIST, Yuffie, can you try to think about positive things?" Barrett said this, still behind me, Marlene on his shoulders.

"Like how Cid and Shera have been together for a year now!" Marlene said happily from on top of her father, laughing.

"Actually, I'm sort of surprised-"

"Shut your mouth, Kisaragi," Cid growled.

"You just wanna get Shera drunk so you can do her tonight!" And then I realized this has gone entirely too far and stopped.

"Best of luck to you both, though," I said before Cid or Tifa or anyone slapped me over the head.

Cloud facepalmed, "Can we just land this thing?"

All Cid did was grunt and spin the steering wheel wildly and I felt the airship turn drastically. And then I felt the knee-buckling feeling of the descent.

"Oh sweet lords of Wutai, have mercy on me," I said, clutching my stomach. My legs were shaking and I grasped onto the rail that was near the glass wall at the end of the room. My stomach was flopping around and threatening to empty itself in front of everyone. It wasn't like they weren't used to it, I mean, I think I was the person they have seen the most of, simply because they've seen the inside of my stomach over fifty times.

"Girl, can you hold your shit for five minutes? Then you can upchuck all over the ground, just not on my GOD DAMN ship," Cid said, obviously caring about his airship more than my comfort and wellness.

"It's not _shit,_ Jesus, Cid, it's-" and I stopped to hold my mouth. Hold it, Yuffie, you got this. Five minutes. I've gone two hours, once, feeling absolutely miserable like this. But then I threw up over Marlene's bed and made her cry. Oh well. It was revenge.

"_I know what it is," _Cid said and it was the simplest sentence I've ever heard him utter.

So I spent the next five minutes forcing my stomach to be calm and to cooperate, only to make sure Cid doesn't get pissed off on his anniversary. Even though he's pissed off every day of his life. And I think that was the nicest thing I've ever done for him.

Eventually, the ever-present feeling of dropping stopped and the world became stable. I gave out a sigh in relief and unlatched my hand from the railing with some difficulty due to my extremely strong grip on it because I'm a badass.

"Uuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhh," I let out when everyone was beginning to make their way to the hatch while I tried to take a step forward with great difficulty. I envied their ability to stand so straight.

Red hopped out of the hatch and landed safely on the ground and I thought that if I had done that I would explode. He brought Cait Sith with him. Then Barrett with Marlene on his shoulders, balancing her on his shoulders while he jumped down. Next was Vincent (who had actually been watching me _this whole time_ although it wasn't obvious. He just stood against the wall with his arms folded over each other and out of the corner of his eye he was looking at me. I could feel it.) who simply just leaped down to the ground.

No one went next. I wondered why.

Then I felt the stares. I was still by the railing, trying to make my legs move but failing miserably. I looked up and saw Cloud look at me expectantly and Cid with a grumpy look on with face that was even grumpier than normal. I wondered what all the fuss was about.

"What?" I said, barely picking up my legs and moving towards them.

"Ya might wanna get a _move on_, cause we're waiting for your skinny little ass to get off this ship!"

My first thought was: He called me skinny!

My second thought was: Why don't they just let me go last?

"You know….you can just go ahead of me," I said like it was the stupidest thing in the world.

Cid snorted. "No, we can't, cuz Cloud's gotta help Tifa off the airship and me, bein' the _captain, _has to get off last," and this made absolutely no sense to me because, hell, I could wait for Tifa to get herself off of the airship! I just really, really, really, didn't want to barf all over her.

I clenched my teeth, "I'm gonna barf on you guys."

Cloud stared at me, "Just get off the airship, Yuffie," and I felt _so, so, so_ annoying at that one moment because I was holding everyone up and no one was progressing at anything except for learning how to stand better and ageing.

So I complied and slowly slipped off the hatch, my stomach tossing and turning with every second I was in mid air. Which was only about two, but those two seconds absolutely _sucked_.

Everyone looked at me like I was a parasite when I got off of the ship, well, everyone except for Vincent. I blushed and scratched my head and cracked my knuckles. I walked away from the hatch and almost kissed the solid ground I was standing on.

It took Tifa like, ten minutes to get off of the hatch, simply because Cloud was really overprotective and didn't want her to get hurt, at all. I was about to suggest him just picking her up and jumping down but decided that I had spoken enough that day as it was.

All of us got safely to the ground and Cid closed the hatch, leaving all of the workers inside to suffer and well, work all day while we got our party on. Well, as much party that you can get on when you're not totally wasted.

It was around five in the afternoon when we got there and the bar was just opening. Cid said nothing, only jabbing with his thumb to the direction of the pub while he made his way over to his house. I smirked and waited for him to get about five yards ahead of me until I began to tip toe behind him.

The others were starting to make their way to the pub and no one noticed me get all sneaky behind Cid. (That's what she said!) I could see a grin grow on his face and I smiled myself, feeling his excitement and happiness because _I_ was happy for him. He deserved to see his wife after so long.

It was cute, really, when he opened the door and I heard Shera shriek in happiness. It was really out of character, for both of them, but I guess that's what love makes you do. I wouldn't know for sure, though.

I heard them talk for a little bit and in the beginning it was all laughs and then random silences for kissing (who would want to kiss Cid's tobacco mouth, I wouldn't know.) and it was adorable. And then I felt like I was intruding when their voices got hushed and more intimate so I left before the others noticed I was gone.

By the time I made it to the bar, Tifa was already kicking the owner out from behind the counter with her enlarged hormones. I laughed at her authority when she said, "_I have been an owner of a bar for six years I know what I'm doing," _and at the face the previous worker had. I think he pissed his pants. What a pansy.

So Tifa was cleaning out glasses like she always did and I almost burst into tears because it reminded me of old times. Cloud was giving the owner a sack of gil to rent out the place for the night and the amount of gill he offered was so high and owner took it and promptly yelled, "SHOP'S CLOSED!" to which I laughed because this wasn't a shop.

Red was already lying out on the floor and I sorta felt bad for him because he couldn't really enjoy any of this. All he could do was sit and watch because, hey, who would want a lion to sing karaoke and drink beer with them? So I sat down next to him and patted his head.

"We gotta stick together, tonight, Red," I told him, looking off to the wall.

"And why is that?" He asked in his deep and cat-ish voice.

"Cause neither of us can really _enjoy_ this whole party tonight!" I said while I watched Marlene hug the shit out of Cait Sith. Hahhahahahaha, he deserved it. And I didn't really know why but he did.

"I was actually planning to take a nap," and I gave him another look that resembled this- O.O

"How the hell are you able to sleep when they'll be talking about their sex lives all night? And you _know_ that it gets more disturbing every night they do," and he didn't seem to disagree with me.

And then it got boring because all he did was swish his tail around and try not to catch things on fire. See, if he actually did catch things on fire then it would get exciting. We could have a bonfire party instead of a bar party and all of the booze would burn down and make the fire even BIGGER and I'd go buy marshmallows. And then we'd have s'mores.

But none of that actually happened and then he _did really fall asleep. Before the party even started._

So I just sat there, ignoring Tifa's blabbering about how I should be helping out because I knew she'd get over it in like five minutes. And Barrett dropped a glass in the kitchen when he was trying to swat a fly with his muscles and Cloud went into overprotective daddy mode, forcing Tifa out of the kitchen and sweeping up all of the debris.

Vincent stood by the wall and set up the streamers. It was amusing.

They were red and blue streamers, the manliest colors of them all. It was starting to look like Cid's 36th anniversary with himself than his first with Shera until Tifa broke out the pink.

Since she was away from the bar due to Cloud's cleaning she took the opportunity to go buy some flowers from the flower shop and _oh my god Cid was going to be soooooo pissed off._ This made me get up off of my ass and while I was doing that I wondered why no one was yelling at Red to do anything. But that thought left me when I went to go grab vases to keep the flowers in.

They were bright pink lilies and totally girly. Shera wasn't girly. We didn't care.

"They're so cute!" Tifa and I chimed in together which led us to looking at each other and then bursting out into giggles. After our laughter died down Tifa looked at me.

"Be my sober partner tonight, Yuff?" She asked me in her sweet voice and it was impossible to reject.

"I guess I have no other choice," and I guess that wasn't the nicest way to reply and I guess I guess I guess. I never knew, did I? Back then I wasn't so sure of myself.

So we waited for awhile, and by awhile I meant like ten minutes until Cid came busting through the door suddenly and with no hints to his arrival. This made the whole bar so absolutely silent except for Cid's incredibly loud "TA-DAAAA!"

We all stood there completely still. Cloud gripped onto his broom with an open mouth and Barrett kept his arms locked on Marlene's legs. Tifa and I stood still. Red slept. Vincent breathed. It was really awkward.

All of us realized this at the same time.

"Happy anniversary!" we all said except for Barrett who said, "Happy birthday!"

And when we all ended our chorus of 'happy whatevers' Cid let out a shaky laugh and Shera just giggled. I mean, it's all she really could do, for the girl never really showed that much emotion other than striking obedience and stubbornness.

Someone was smart and handed Cid a beer and it all got out of hand from there.

They all ended up sitting at the main table (they being all of the men. Oh and Shera.) with a drink in hand and music in the background. Cid kept laughing, the beer going straight to his head already.

"Man, did you guys rent this place out? Ya'll didn't have to do that!" and for the first time EVER Cid was being nice but I take back the EVER because he's been nice before. He seriously is just a smoking teddy bear, I swear.

Cloud reassured him that it was no problem and Tifa went back behind the bar to cook some food. I offered to do it because Tifa should have gone and had some fun and not do all of the work. It wasn't because she was pregnant; it was because I was tired of her just sitting on the sidelines. Everyone was forgetting how to kick ass these days.

But she assured me it was fine and I was left as the only conscious one not at the table. Even Cait Sith had been radio intercepted by Reeve and Cid was now having a long conversation with him about how Reeve hadn't gotten drunk in ages.

"Fly out here, man, we've got room!" Cid bellowed his arms around Shera. It was a weird sight considering he used to verbally abuse her.

"Ah, well, um," Reeve started and I could imagine him stretching the collar of his dress, "You see, I'm in Edge and that's quite far from Rocket Town. I don't believe I could get there in time."

I kinda wanted Tifa to start saying 'dilly-dally shilly-shally' over and over again because _it was so much fun to say_ but she didn't.

"Bullshit!" Cid said and that was close enough.

I sat down next to Vincent and glanced at the condensation on the beer he had in his hand. I almost groaned. Why could everyone else have fun and I couldn't?

I know what you're thinking. _You don't need beer to have fun_ in all of your nerdy little voices. But I'll tell you right now to shut the hell up.

I decided to test this theory and poked Vincent on his metal arm. I wondered if he could feel it and when he didn't turn from looking in Cid's direction to mine I kept poking it. I also wondered if he had a thing for Cid and almost burst out laughing because _what was I thinking._ Maybe I was drunk from secondhand drinking. But that didn't make sense.

I poked and poked until I moved from his metal arm to his actual, squishy arm. And on the first poke he turned around slowly and looked down on me. I felt scared for a moment.

"Are you having fun?" I asked, almost in a whisper. I didn't know why (I never knew anymore) I was whispering simply because Barrett was _screaming at the top of his lungs_ for Cid to chug his beer and then later to make out with Shera. It was sorta disturbing if you think about it. Do near 40 year olds make out anymore? I think if Cid had sex he'd break his back.

Vincent like, squinted at me and I grinned wildly as a response. I hope he didn't think I was being annoying like the rest of them.

When he didn't reply and just kept staring at me like he did on the ship I slowly said, "This doesn't seem like…..your kinda scene, ya know?" And I hope he knew.

He nodded, "I am not one for these types of events," and I sighed, "But that does not mean I can't enjoy it," he said and then took a sip of his beer.

I gaped, "You…uh…wanna gimme a sip of that?" I asked him, nudging him in the side with my elbow. He didn't look amused.

"I don't think so," he said and took another sip. I deadpanned. What a dickface!

"Dickface. Pussy. Ass bitch ninnymuggins," I said angrily and crossed my arms. He didn't seem to care at all that I called him all of those names and continued to be silent like always.

I looked around me. Tifa was sitting across from me, a fruity drink in front of her that _looked _like alcohol but I knew wasn't. _Very sneaky, Tifa, _I complimented in my mind. Cloud was sitting next to her with his arms on the table, both hands wrapped around a bottle of beer. Barrett was at the end of the table, arms waving around sporadically, causing beer to fall into Cid and Cloud's hair. Cloud winced but Cid just tried to catch it with his tongue.

Shera sat next to Vincent and _tried_ to act like she was having a good time but was failing miserably. She was sipping the tiniest sips in the entire world out of her fruity but probably spiked drink. Her glasses were crooked and she was laughing timidly. This wasn't her scene, either.

Like I said before, this was more like Cid's 36th anniversary with himself than anything else.

Marlene was with Red on the floor. She looked upset. This wasn't any of ours scene.

Was Vincent mad at me? Or was he just being silent like usual? I mean, if someone called me the names I just called him I'd be pissed off beyond belief. _Especially_ the ninnymuggins. But then again, Vincent was handling being previously encased with demons pretty well. I guess. I mean _now _he was, previously…not so much.

I huffed and poked him again.

"I'm bored," I said.

He let out one of his deep Vincent laughs and set his bottle down, "Count the ceiling tiles," he said grimly.

"You're shitting me, right?" I told him.

"I've done it twice," he spoke with such seriousness I almost burst into laughter if it weren't for Barrett's beer finally reaching _me_.

"Ey! Watch it!" I snapped at Barrett and turned back to Vincent, "I am not counting the ceiling tiles. That's for wussies," I stopped. Another name calling.

His mouth twitched, "You're quite insulting today," he said and my brain soured.

"I'm always insulting. Psh, watch," and just to be a bitch I said, "Ey, Cloud, your hair looks like a chocobo," and that was the _worst insult I had ever dished out at someone and he didn't even hear me because of the pounding music in the background. _

"That….was terrible," Vincent said from next to me and I hissed in response.

"I want to see you do any better, Vinny-boy," I told him. He squinted his eyes and took a long sip from his beer. He still had a lot left.

"I'd rather not," He told me.

"Yeah, because you don't enjoy verbally abusing people like Cid does. Or giving out orders like Cloud does. Or comforting people like Tifa does. Or being awesome like I do. You enjoy being the silent one who has really good ideas and is smart and shit but never says anything because he feels like he doesn't need to. But me, I don't have a filter. My brain thinks of stuff and instead of processing it, it just spits straight out my mouth. And that's what makes me, me. And your brain is like, the police force of thoughts, because if one thing you think of is too happy or too positive, it'll shoot it down. And that's what makes you, you," and with that I grabbed his beer and took a long sip from it.

It tasted horrid and it tasted bitter. I had his saliva in my mouth. It was sort of like kissing. (SEE! IT DID HAPPEN, BITCHES.)

Vincent didn't seem shocked that I took a sip. I think he was expecting it.

"That's….not true," he started, "I don't say much simply because it'd be pointless. I do not enjoy wasting my breath. If something I was to say has a positive incantation, I'd say it if it adds to the conversation," he said and I nodded. I was seeing his point.

"So many people see me as some sort of dark being. I'll admit that I am…in some ways. But my mind is…lighter, now."

I smiled. I thought of Shelke and what she was doing right now. She harbored the only last remaining thoughts of Lucrecia Cresent and he was here, with us. She was the one that helped him release his dark thoughts and yet he wanted to be with us.

"Maybe you should stop wearing black, then. Kinda gives off the impression that you are, well, dark," I told him, ignoring the glare Tifa was giving me when I took another sip of the nasty beer. Vincent didn't stop me.

I swished it around in my mouth while waiting for him to reply.

"People just have to get to know me, then," and I spit my beer _all over the place,_ meaning in front of Tifa. She didn't notice and was talking to Cloud.

"Vincent, that was the girliest thing I've ever heard a member of AVALAN-" I stopped, "DOWNFALL, by the way that name is stupid, say. Other than the time Cloud got gum stuck in his hair and Tifa used peanut butter on it and he was complaining about how he just washed it," I said.

There was a puddle of beer in front of me and I refrained from licking it up from off of the table.

His mouth twitched and he grabbed the bottle back from my side of the table. He took a sip, not a gulp. It was like we kissed again.

"Hmm," he hummed and I left it at that. I had just had the best and longest conversation in the history of the relationship of Yuffie and Vincent. Well, I had at that time.

I didn't take his beer back. I left it with him and asked Tifa for my own. She said no, of course.

Red had woken up by then and was talking quietly to Marlene on the floor. She was clutching his fur and lying across him, nearly his size by then. She was growing up so fast and it was hard to believe. Barrett probably didn't like it. Barrett probably didn't like anything except for Cid and beer right now.

I wanted to go and turn down the music. I wanted to take a beer and chug it so I could join the party. I wanted it to be ten months later so I would be 21 and had already dealt with going to Wutai.

"Vincent," I said, looking at the wall past Tifa. He moved his gaze from the same wall to me, "Do you think…my father will be happy to see me?"

What was I asking him? Why would he know the answer? It wasn't like Vincent knew absolutely everything in the entire world but I wasn't expecting him to. I just wanted some reassurance.

It took him awhile to respond.

"Being your father…my immediate answer would be yes…," he said but his eyes gave off some sort of glint when I looked into them. I sighed at his answer.

"But..," my ears perked up, "there's something else, isn't there? This isn't going to be…normal for you, is it?" and I nodded, my lips wiggling. I couldn't cry, Jesus Christ I was Yuffie Kisaragi! I don't cry, ever!

I took a deep breath and slowly, I whispered, "I don't want to go."

He kept looking into my eyes. His red ones were thoughtful, hard, and narrowed. I felt like I could see my entire soul inside of them but in reality all I could see was my reflection. A girl with a headband and a smile.

He blinked and I blinked, "I know," was all he said and I turned away.

I took a deep breath. Someone knew that I didn't want to go. And suddenly a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

I let the breath out.

We didn't talk for the rest of the night and it was okay. I sat there quietly while Cloud and Cid talked about the rise of DOWNFALL (that was funny.) and Shera talked about her hopes of going off to Kalm to go to the small university they had there. Shera didn't get to talk much, though, because Cid had a bigger mouth.

Marlene ended up falling asleep after we finished the dinner Tifa had prepared. It was some sort of chicken smothered in broth and was very, very good in everyone's opinion. She gave some raw meat to Red who hadn't said a word this entire time. Cloud was getting tired. Shera was fed up. Anxiety was eating me alive.

Eventually, this all had to end. It reached about one o'clock and the bar owner came barging in, demanding that we leave before he calls the cops. We were all unsure why but at the word 'leave', Tifa and I stood up, pushed in our seats and began to gather people around the door.

Cid was wasted beyond belief and couldn't even properly argue with the guy who owned the place. His words were just garbled sounds with harsh points indicating anger. He stumbled into the arms of his wife. She guided him out the door.

Barrett wasn't much better and ended up almost dropping Marlene when he tried picking her up. This resulted in her crying her eyes out and me having to hold her hand. I patted her head and told her that her dad was just being retarded.

Cloud was fine because he could hold alcohol like no one I've ever met. He stood up straight and made a beeline to the door with Tifa straight behind him. He spoke with complete precision, "Thank you for letting us-"

The owner didn't want to hear it, "Just let me go to sleep," he said sleepily.

I felt bad right then, because I had kept a tired man from his home. All he wanted to do was sleep but we had to have a party. And even though we were the saviors of the world and everyone was indebted to us…..that didn't mean we had the right to invade someone's home.

Shera took Cid back to their house for the night. I wished her luck. He was probably horny.

I also felt bad for Shera, too, because she didn't seem to enjoy that night at all. I frowned, wishing that Cid would make changes for her. She didn't deserve that.

The hatch was wide open when we came back.

"What….the fuck?" I said to myself when I was the first one to see it.

I was chorused by Barrett's, "WHAT THE FUCK!"

Our breath's hitched and our minds slowed. I could feel Cloud's anger from behind me.

"Who did this?" He asked, jumping to conclusions.

I stumbled, but not from the alcohol, "What if the workers got hungry?"

Cloud grunted and Barrett bellowed, "There's some food in the ship! Someone was _in_ here!"

We all hurried inside, our muscles tense. None of us had weapons.

Luckily, we found all of the workers safe and totally alive. Cloud let out a sigh of relief. He interrogated them about if they heard anything. They all seemed pretty shocked when they saw us and said that they heard the hatch open at midnight and thought it was us coming back.

Someone had entered the Shera and it wasn't us. It wasn't the workers. But one thing was for sure: whoever did it was fucking retarded because they had left the hatch wide open. So they wouldn't be much of a challenge, even if they caught us off guard. We had killed Sephiroth. There was nothing to worry about.

Cloud grabbed Marlene, not trusting her with Barrett, and made his way down the main hallway with Tifa following behind him as fast as she could while waddling.

I went off on my own, shimmying down the hallway to my bedroom with ninja expertise. I had my fist clenched, my head constantly turning from side to side to look for a humanoid figure on either ends of the hall.

I kicked open my bedroom door, pausing after it was open to listen for any sudden movement. I heard none and slowly walked in, my fists in front of me. I ran quickly past my bed and grabbed my Conformer. I held it above my head and flipped on the lights.

With Conformer still above my head I grabbed for my knapsack besides my dresser. My eyes were still glancing around the room, mostly into the darkness of my bathroom. I wasn't looking when I flipped open the top of the knapsack that housed my materia.

I dug my fingers into the pouch that I kept reserved for my mastered Ice materia, ready to turn my room into Icicle Inn at any moment. My fingers were met by the soft leather texture of the bag. I assumed it had fallen out of the small pocket and my fingers left that part of the bag. I reached into the main holding space of my materia bag.

My hand sunk too low. It was too light and I didn't even notice it at first. My fingers met the bottom of my bag and I looked down. It was all empty except for my one star Demi materia. I always hated that one.

I stopped breathing and turned the bag inside out. I dumped its contents onto the floor, the one materia meeting the ground with a soft clunk. My eyes searched the ground for some hidden compartment. This had to be some cruel, sick joke.

I fell to my knees and started searching. I looked under the bed, in the dresser, threw all of my clothes onto the floor, and tore the covers off of my bed. I ripped my bedroom curtains from the railings and pulled my shower curtains to the side. The bathroom cabinet was empty.

It was silent. My breath shuddered. My whole life's work, every last bit of it was gone. My obsession, my love, my hobby was now wrenched out of my hands. My heart broke for all of the wrong reasons and my fists clenched.

"FUCK!" I screamed, so loudly I felt my lamp shake on the bedside table. I looked at it hopefully, thinking that my hundreds of materia would fall out from its lampshade and be returned to me.

Not only was my materia stolen, but some of everyone else's, too. Sure, I had stolen from my friends, but I always, always promised to give it back. Well, maybe not out loud I said that, but I always thought it. I always knew it, too, because I couldn't be that mean to the people that loved me.

I slammed my fists down on the ground, "Fuck you, whoever you are! I hope you die! I hope you feel the pain you're giving me right now. You are the sickest fuck I've ever had the displeasure of meeting! What kind of fucked up, psycho shit goes and steals someone materia? That shit is _personal._ You just tore down whatever pride I had for myself!" and I said all of this out loud because I knew no one was listening. It would be the same as saying them in my head.

Pride. The only way I had gained it in myself was when I let my Conformer fly during our last battle and that night I stayed up until three in the morning in Wutai. I had sat on my knees for three hours when I couldn't sleep in my basement. I opened my old, rickety chest and had grabbed my knapsack of my favorite materia. My chest was overflowing, almost, with the materia I had been collecting since a tender four years old.

I sorted them into groups, by colors, names, powers, attributes, and came out at 1,179. It was a rainbow of magic lying out in front of me, my entire life staring me straight in the face. I had cried because I realized I had done something that made me happy. I knew I had gotten these from stealing and bartering and dirty, dirty things but they gave me a feeling I had never felt before.

And just like that it was gone.

My nails dug so deep into my skin that my blood began to drip to the wooden floor. I could hear Tifa and Cloud talking in their room. They hadn't heard me.

I ducked my head towards my chest. My chin touched my collar bone and I focused on breathing deeply. In. Out. In. Out. Maybe this would all go away. Maybe I was drunk. Maybe if I never moved ever again then God will forgive me.

"Are you okay?" and I'll have to admit that I was expecting that. It was going to happen eventually and I was just curling up in a ball, waiting for its arrival.

But I hadn't thought about what to say.

"It's gone," I whispered to my chest, loud enough for him to hear, "He took it all."

I heard him picking up my knapsack and the soft clank of his metal hand picking up my Demi. I shot up and yanked it out of his hands. I pressed it into my face, feeling its magical warmth against my cheek.

"All of it?" _Yes that's what I mean by he took it all._

"Mhmm," I let out. I began to rock on my heels, my eyes burning. They weren't wet.

His eyes shot around me room, under my bed. I touched his shoulder, "Don't," I started, "I already tried."

He swallowed at look at my face. I musta looked pretty fucked up, curled up in a ball in the corner of my bedroom. He must have thought I was going into hysterics.

My hand stayed on his shoulder until he grabbed it and took it off. He laid it back onto the ground and his eyes were wide.

"Cloud found him, dead, in the chocobo room," he said and my ears waited for more, "Said he heard us arrive and he stowed away there. Cloud discovered him and punched him out of invasion of privacy, but the man ended up hitting his head on a bucket that was in there. He died of brain damage, Tifa says."

I gaped.

"He also said there was a large amount of non-human waste in there."

I forgot to clean up Attaboy's shit. I had forgotten to pick up the bucket and take it back to my room. I had left it there and it was the cause of death of the man who stole my life's work.

Was it wrong to be happy?

"You mean….he's dead!" I exclaimed.

"That is what I meant when I said he was dead," and I almost laughed.

My eyes shone and I was about to make my way to the chocobo room when Vincent's hand touched my shoulder, mimicking my previous movements. I stopped in my tracks.

"Cloud also said that he had nothing on him," and I growled. Did the fucker leave and come back? I mean, I _did_ have a lot of materia and he didn't take my knapsack. So he must have it stashed somewhere I mean…," I trailed off.

"He wasn't holding anything, Yuffie," Vincent told me and my lip twitched.

"Well….at least he's dead…," and can't go stealing other ninja's materia. They were important to ninja progress and maturity. (This kind of worked in a reverse effect.)

"I'm sorry, Yuffie," Vincent said, his eyes narrowing again, but this time in a sort of affectionate way. I guess he really did care.

"It's….okay….I mean….I'll just have to raid Cloud when he's not looking for another 400 materia," I said and almost laughed again. Vincent gave me a slight _slightslightslight_ smile.

"I think he'd notice," and he got up and made his way to the door. I stood up too, holding out my hand.

"Oh, wait, Vincent…," I stopped him, making sure he heard me. He turned around, looking at me over his shoulder.

I wiggled my foot, "Um, well, _I'msorryaboutwhatIsaidatthebar._ You're not really a dickface. Or a pussy. Or a bitch ass ninnymuggins," and that was the most romantic thing I've ever said to him.

His slight smile stayed on his face, amusing and kinda mocking. I think he thought I was a child.

"It's fine," he said and with a wave of his hand he was gone from my room, metallic boots echoing off the walls of the hallway.

My mouth was dry again and my eyes stopped burning. A stir began in my stomach and it wasn't from motion sickness. (Mostly because we weren't even flying.) It was a flutter, soft and short; something a princess would get in fairytale. It gave my bodies shivers and my mouth an upward curve. It made me feel like a girl.

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><p><em>This is the first and last chapter to have one consecutive scene with no breaks. <em>

_I'm updating early this weekend because...well...my school had an early release so I'm home at three in the afternoon with nothing to do. So hehe! _

_I really, really love this chapter. I really, really love The Postal Service. I really, really love not having world history homework. _

_Thank you guys for reading and your feedback. You all are completely fabulous and you are the ones that keep me writing. :) I'm gonna go write the epilogue RIGHT NOW because I love all of you guys so much. _

_Ahhhh...love...there is so much of it...especially at my school...so many people disregard the PDA rules there. It's quite gross haha._

_I've been rambling oh no! Review please :) It will make my day._


	5. Chapter 4

_So my effing cat jumped on my laptop and ripped off my up arrow key. Now I can't scroll up. Fml._

_That is all._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER FOUR<strong>

Turns out the guy who snuck into our airship wasn't from around Rocket Town (From Cid's identification.) and had a severe case of stupidity because he thought he would live if he tried to rob (and succeeded with me. WHY ME?) the former members of AVALANCHE.

The others found out about my missing stash of 400 plus materia and I was attacked by countless 'Oh, Yuffie, I'm so sorry!' and 'Here, take my Restore,' and 'Here, take my shitty Cover,' and 'Here, take my useless Demi even though you just told us over and over again that that was the only one he left.'

I denied all of them because I preferred to steal materia and not accept it. So they got to keep their wimpy ones they could do without and I kept my Demi in my pocket, twirling it around and around while I walked the halls, too tired to fall asleep.

I missed the feeling of infinite power at my finger tips. I missed the feeling of being a thief and having my treasure. I missed lugging around an overflowing knapsack with me where I went.

Now, I knew that I had around 600 more materia back in Wutai. But it was in _Wutai. _And that was the place we were heading to right then. Everything seemed to be working out in my favor except for the entire fact that _we were going to Wutai_.

I picked at my fingernails in the kitchen, a bowl of Captain Coco's in front of me. (We had gone shopping in Rocket Town before we left.) Vincent knew that I didn't want to go to Wutai but he still didn't talk to me about it. I mean, did I really want him to. Did I really want to explain myself to him, telling him about how it'd just be sufficiently awkward to see my dad and all of the elders and the whole country that should have been mine by now?

I was an adult. After I turned 18 I was supposed to take the thrown. Did I leave this out before? Aw, shit, sorry. But on my 18th birthday I was away from home (duh) and got a letter from my father at Tifa's bar in Edge. Blah, blah, blah, princess duties, blah blah blah I'm getting old, blah blah blah ruler of Wutai.

My reply? A white sheet of paper with the word 'no' on it. He was lucky I even wrote back.

It's been two years since then and I hadn't been back to Wutai, totally neglecting it and letting in fall further into the tourist site slump it was. I mean, it wasn't like if I had been a ruler by then that I could tear down all of the hotels that had been built. And I couldn't kick all of the non-Wutainese people out. And I couldn't restore it to the prestigious country it used to be.

So I think it was better that I wasn't the ruler because all I'd do is sit on my ass and bitch about how terrible the country was. And frequently run away into the forests and be the ninja I was.

They wouldn't have expected anything less, I think.

My finger started to bleed when I ripped off a large slice of my index fingernail. I winced and stuck the bleeding digit into my mouth, tasting the gross metallic tang of my blood in my mouth.

I opened the cupboard to search for band aids because, you know, you're never too old for a band aid. And the raw skin of my finger was really beginning to sting.

Grabbing the box, it took me awhile to decided between regular and polka-dot ones. I ended up choosing a black and green polka dot one, something manly but still awesome. I wrapped it around my still bleeding fingertip and watched the blood stain the cloth of the band aid.

With my finger securely wrapped, I put the box back into the cupboard and became bored again. I took a bite of my Captain Coco's, chewing thoughtfully even though I wasn't thinking about much at all.

I wondered where we were flying over just then and how far away we were from Wutai. Maybe we were flying over the ocean, heading to the crescent island I called my home. Or maybe I'm being too sappy and descriptive. Maybe we were going to run out of gas and crash into the ground and every will die.

I don't think that was the best view on things, either.

It was so frustrating, too, because Wutai didn't even _need _our help for god's sake! We (I meant they) were fine and could handle ourselves. (Themselves.)

"They don't even _need_ our help, though!" I whined to Cloud, breaking my happy façade. I thought I was obvious by then that I didn't want to go due to my constant kicking of the walls and exclaiming "Wutai sucks!" and it was funny because if _anyone ever said those words to me _ I would kick them in the balls even if they didn't have any.

"Everyone needs help, Yuffie, even the ones that don't seem like they do," to which I wondered if the evilest of the entire human race needed our help because, hey, they don't seem like they do.

"But Wutai is just a visitor's site now. It's a washed out comparison to what it once was. It's just like Costa Del Sol, and I don't see us going there to help," I argued.

"That's because they don't need our help," and my mouth dropped in protest. What?

"But you just said-"

Cloud slammed a pillow over his head and groaned. Tifa snored beside him.

"Yuffie, just go to bed, please," and I was being annoying again but this time _I didn't give a damn because I'm Yuffie Kisaragi._

I echoed him in his groans and shuffled out of his bedroom, slamming the door behind me and betting all of my materia (oh wait.) that Tifa still didn't wake up. The woman slept like a log nowadays. A big, huge, oak log. And she looked like one too. That was really mean.

I could have asked Cid where we were right then and then begin to mentally prepare myself but it was 2:42 A.M and I couldn't sleep. And I was pretty sure Cid was able to.

No one was awake, I knew that for sure.

Tomorrow we were going to land in Wutai and I was either going to cry my eyes out or beat up my father. Or just not get off of the airship. Any of those worked, really.

I tied my headband tighter and my leg muscles twitched to get a work out. I hadn't run more than a couple of yards in those past months. I hadn't slammed my fist into something since….okay…well…since last night. But that was out of anger and not for self protection or training. I wanted to _train_ for the love of god. I wanted to feel that ache of your muscles after a long day of sweating. I wanted to take an ice bath.

I could have done the last one on the airship but it totally wouldn't have felt as good, and it didn't even feel good when your muscles were screaming.

Sighing, I fell down onto my bed. All of that thinking had gotten me tired. I had been tired already but my brain wouldn't relax.

I flexed my toes. Relax. My lower half stilled. Relax. My index finger ached and I focused on it. Relax. I didn't have any muscles in my fingernails but I didn't care. Relax. Relax. Relax. Sleep.

* * *

><p>My toilet fell victim to my sickness in the morning. My eyes shot open and my senses were filled with the terrible, terrible GOD DAMN feeling of falling. This was also known as Cid descending into my hometown. I think that's what made me barf more than anything.<p>

It kinda sounded like 'bllllluuuuhuuuulluuuu,' when my Captain Coco's hit the water in the toilet. And then I paused, breathed, and felt some more coming on. The second time it sounded like 'buuuuuuuhuckluuu,' and that was a big difference.

I was upset when I didn't hear Vincent's boots by my door and his deep voice asking me if I was okay. So I acted the whole situation out in my head, complete with fake voices and outrageous dialogue.

"_Are you okay?" Vincent asked from the hallway._

"_I JUST BARFED OUT MY LIVER!" _– and that was as far as I got before I decided that the whole idea was really stupid and just stopped. I also seriously thought that I barfed out my liver. But then I grabbed the toilet bowl cleaner and poked the dark liquid in my toilet. Turned out it was just the chocolate stained milk from my cereal.

My knuckles were white from gripping the toilet seat so hard and my eyes were clenched. I groaned when my stomach was empty and I flushed the toilet without looking at its contents. That would just return me to my original state.

"_CID!" _I shrieked from my bathroom. It was high pitched and….girly.

There was a pause. He was probably taking his cigarette out of his mouth.

"_WHAT?" _he yelled back in his thick accent.

I stood up, stumbling while trying to wipe off my newly washed pants, "_Land this GOD DAMN thing, please!"_ and I said please because I wanted this terrible feeling to stop.

But I was asking him to land in Wutai and that was just stupid. I pondered that for a moment. Would I want to land in Wutai and make my nausea stop or keep flying away from Wutai and barf all over the place?

I heard a grumbling from far behind me, in the command room. My door was wide open and I could hear clearly. Cid was fiddling with the controls and I felt a sudden swoop downwards. My hands flew to my mouth.

"_WATCH IT!" _I screeched, tumbling out of my bathroom and onto the floor of my bedroom. Today was already a bad day.

"_I wanna see you try and fly this plane!" _and my first thought was: I did for 2.5 seconds until you cut me off! But I didn't say that because I'd throw up all over my bed.

So I got out of my bedroom and walked (I was grasping onto the walls, breathing heavily. It was kind of like having sex with the wall.) into the command room to meet face with the rest of DOWNFALL. It was as if everyone had heard an intercom announcement about meeting there except for me.

"Didn't ya hear the announcement I made? Ya lazy ass…," Cid said. Oh. I guess there was one. Why do I even guess? I knew for a fact there was one.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of my barfs," and that sound was 'bllllluuuuhuuuulluuuu.'

Cid rolled his eyes at me and pulled a lever, "Well, don't get yer panties in a bunch, but we're almost to the ground. Try not to be too excited," and I didn't know if he was joking or not because of the frown on my face.

My panties were definitely not in a bunch. In fact, my panties were the straightest and most comfortable they've been in months. It was kind of shocking because I almost missed having a wedgie.

I folded my hands over my chest and looked at Vincent, who was not looking at me. I sorta felt creepy for a moment then I remembered that _he_ was the one staring at me this whole past week. Let it be from my bedroom to the command room _or maybe he was thinking about me before he fell asleep_. But that's too cute of an idea for Vincent.

But isn't that what he said that he didn't like people thinking about him? That just because he looks dark doesn't mean he can't think positively? That he can't have a nice side? That he can't do cute things? That my panties were actually in a bunch?

I heard and felt the wheels of the Shera go down from their compartments in the bottom of the ships. That sound was the foundation for my stomach dropping and my hands shaking. I looked to Vincent to see if he understood. If anyone understood. Tifa was smiling. People were happy.

I swallowed and gripped the railing. I tried as hard as I could to make it look like I was just _so so so _excited. The fluttering returned to my stomach but this time it wasn't because of Vincent and it didn't make me feel like a girl. I just made me feel like a failure. A failure to my own country.

"Don't-" Cid started but I stopped him.

"_I'M NOT GOING TO BARF ON YOUR STUPID SHIP," _I yelled, high pitched and bothersome. Someone winced, I could tell. My voice hurt my own ears.

Couldn't Cid worry about _me _for once? Maybe that was selfish but Jesus I was about to die here. Not really, because my heart was pumping fine and everything in my body was working correctly, but my brain was. My brain was screaming for some sort of release from all of this stress.

His ship wasn't that important.

The Shera shook and swayed when we touched ground, making me fall to the ground of the Shera while still holding onto the railing. I was a bit sideways and my arms were straining to keep their grip but they ended up not failing me.

"Oomph!" I let out and bruised my butt. I released one hand from the railing, my knuckles screaming in protest, and rubbed my behind.

Cid grunted in response and I heard him step down from the steering ledge. His boots stomped over to the edge of the ship and opened the hatch. My eyes were still closed and I couldn't bear to open them and look outside at Wutai. I couldn't believe it. I was home for the first time in three years.

But I guess I had been home all along. I always loved being with AVALANCHE and DOWNFALL more than being at home with my father. So now, both of my homes were colliding for the second time. But I didn't like it.

Tifa's voice reached my ears.

"Yuffie, would you like to go out first?" She asked me sweetly like my own mother would. So I took in a deep breath and stood up. I stood up for my own mother, who was the only person in this entire world that I missed. I missed her more than I missed Aerith, I missed her more than I miss Spring in Wutai, I missed her more than I missed taking long walks with my father.

She would want me to go out there. She would want me to be home with my people. But she would want me to be happy. My eyes burned.

"Okay," I said in a breathy voice, making my way over to the hatch. I smelt the Wutai air from the opening and I saw the green grass of the outer fields. If I squinted, I could see the red pagodas.

I stopped at the edge. I made it look like I was getting ready to jump. I braced my legs, clenched my fists, and took in a deep breath. And which that breath I sucked up everything. I sucked up all of my pain, my resentment, my neglect. I pushed it all into the back of my mind. It wasn't worth thinking about. Maybe….maybe Wutai was worth better thoughts. Maybe my mother would be watching me.

So I released my tense muscles and jumped.

No one was surprised when my legs failed me and I fell straight to the ground, my face going straight into the oriental dirt of Wutai. And the dirt wasn't even oriental, that was the soup, but for some reason my tears fell onto the grass without stop. My hands gripped the now wet blades and dug them from the earth. My forehead was brown with dirt and I hiccupped. It was good to be home.

I stayed there for a few moments, listening to the hops of my fellow comrades (that was fun to say.) down to the ground. I guess this was similar to Tifa's sobs when we visited Nibelheim so no one said anything, they just watched as I lay in a ball on the ground, my sobs ending but my legs unable to move.

By the time Tifa was safely on the soil of Wutai, I stood up and brushed myself off. Tifa came up to me, smiled, and used her thumb to brush the dirt off of my forehead.

We walked in silence to me old town, the men taking long strides while Tifa and I strayed to the back. She kept smiling at me, but in total silence. I was beginning to get a little freaked out.

I didn't stop looking around me. The forests were the same, the grass was the same, and the smell was the same. Wutai was, without a doubt, the most beautiful place in the world. It was obvious to anybody who ever visited and I was beginning to understand why it was such a popular tourist site.

I searched the opening of the forests for any practicing ninja or playing children. My eyes came up short and I frowned. Maybe they were all hiding, or invisible, or eating lunch. My stomach growled then and I looked down at it as if to shut it up. I was going to have to have lunch with my father. And I was going to have Wutainese food for the first time in years.

_Mmmm….noodles…._ I thought but was brought to my senses when I saw the grass turn to cobblestone and the red pagodas grow nearer and nearer. I noticed Cloud had a sack thrown over his back. Canned food, duh, and probably more supplies to help clean up. I was afraid that some of the kids here still had the geostigma, simply because Aerith's church was so far from Wutai and some people here were…well….dirt poor and they couldn't make it. I frowned. I would have taken them.

My knuckles cracked under the pressure of my hand when we came close to the first red pagoda that held the supplies shop. I let out a breath. I would laugh my ass off if the materia shop still had the same five lame materia they've had all these years. No one bought materia around here. (We all either stole it or didn't use it.)

I saw a small group of children run past me wildly, hands waving, black hair falling behind their backs. I almost smiled when they broke out into a fake sword fight, complete with sound effects and one of them falling down and dying. Maybe Wutai hadn't changed that much. Except ninjas don't fight with swords. Whatever.

Cloud stopped in the middle of the village and I was surprised when we didn't get any glares. People were walking all around us, some of them that I recognized and some that I couldn't remember for the life of me. They all had on their traditional robes and hair pinned up and walked in stiff steps of boringness.

Ugh, if I grew up and became like them, slap me. Please. I never want to end up like that.

Grabbing a can out of sack behind his back, Cloud looked around. There were no people sitting out on the streets. There was no one begging for help. Everyone seemed fine.

Cloud faltered for a moment, "Erm, well. Yuffie, do you have any idea to where we could start?"

My eyes shot to the sky, "The people of Wutai are strong. They don't enjoy help, at all. Well, at least that's how it was when I was young," I looked over to a blonde haired woman sipping a soda by the bridge. She didn't belong here, but neither did us, "So the people who need help the most won't show it. They'll hide inside until they can't anymore. So we need to find those people before they break."

And tears sprung from behind my eyelids. Were the people of Wutai just like me? Was I just as similar to them as they were to me?

Cloud nodded, "We can't exactly barge into people's houses," He said and I shook my head.

"No, no, that would be extremely messed up, man. Wutaians don't enjoy outsiders breaking the rules of our culture. Hell, they don't even like _me_ breaking the rules. But that's understandable because I once set my own house on fire," and no one said anything.

I coughed, "Talk to people. They'll tell you if you ask. Just be polite," I stopped and my eyes widened, "_For the love of god be polite."_

They all nodded and Cloud gave out instructions. He told them to go and speak to the ones who look strong, not the ones who look weak. Look for the opposites, the irregulars, I had told them. They put in their confirmation and went off on their separate ways.

"Yuffie, if you want, you can go visit your father," Cloud said before I told him I was already planning to do so.

What? Do you really think I was that much of a baby to hide from my biggest fear? Shit, I can talk to my dad. He's just my dad. He's just my dad. He's just my dad. He's just my dad. He's just my dad.

I think my dad was a bigger baby than I was. After he lost the war and became scared and wimpy and _the complete opposite of me in every single way_ and that's why I hated talking to him so much. He was obsessed with materia, too, though, and that was okay, I guess. He started my hobby and here, in this village, was where the rest of it was.

I made a note to go back to my old house and get another 400 materia. _Of course_ I had to bring my best ones with me (even though that made sense because I was, I dunno, SAVING THE WORLD.) and get them all stolen. Stupid son of a bitch who stole my materia. I'm glad you died by bucket.

So I left Cloud and made my way over to the center pagoda that was where I lived until I was fourteen. I wondered if I still had some clothes there. _Oh boy that would be awesome if I could compare my bra sizes._ That way I'd be able to be sure I hadn't totally stopped in development!

The steps were the same as I remembered them. The wood was the same as I remembered it. The paint was a little dull and was sorta peeling, but that was okay because it was still red. If Dad decided to paint the whole city purple…oh my god.

I didn't even begin to knock when the front door slid open and I didn't even get to see who it was and I didn't even get to set down my bag. I was pulled into the strongest embrace I had ever been in in my entire life and almost couldn't breathe. Always almost.

"Yuffie!" and obviously female voice said, still squeezing me to death. I coughed and tried to pat the woman on her back but was stopped when she pulled away abruptly.

I know who it was the moment she hugged me, duh. It was obvious who she was. Amaya Morioka was her name and she was one of my distant cousins. (To be honest I never really liked her but you didn't hear that from me.) She had black hair, duh, pinned up like everyone else in the village, duh, and grey eyes like everyone else, duh. She was average….duh. Everyone in Wutai was beginning to look so similar.

That's one of the reasons I cut my hair so short. All the girls when I was little had long, flowing black hair and could make flower bracelets like no other race on the planet. I had sat in the field, bored, eating the stems of flowers slowly. Everyone noticed because I was the princess and _princesses don't eat flowers._

Well you know what? I do. I eat flowers for breakfast. And then I barf them back up while I'm _traveling to save the world_ and I'll shove them in your face. Then you can tell me that princesses don't eat flowers.

Amaya was smiling at me wider than my grandmother's butt. I gave a crooked one back.

"We heard you were coming home!" She said home so happily, "And everyone was so excited!" Didn't seem like it to me in the village. No one even looked at me. And I _really really _wanted to see the face of the elders when they heard I was coming back.

My eye twitched, "I bet Dad pissed his pants," which made her own eye twitch. I love making people feel uncomfortable.

"Hah, well, you see, he's happy too!" and I almost pissed my own pants (and there is a lot lot lot of pissing of the pants in this story.)

I snorted. "I'm sure."

And I was being rude. But I didn't care.

Amaya waited for me to take off my shoes (I actually just kicked them off) until she led me inside. But I didn't need to be led inside. This was _my_ house. And suddenly I was really protective of this place. And why the hell was Amaya living there?

But I followed her anyway, weaving into the main hallway and I turned my head from side to side trying to take in all of the old memories. I saw the door to my old bedroom open and I yearned to go back inside and flop down on my bed. I wanted to just sleep. Sleep and never wake up. But not like, die, because I think my dad would have an aneurism if he found me dead on my old bed before even saying hello.

She led me to our old garden where I saw him sitting on his knees in front of a statue we had always had there. His hair was streaked with grey and I could see wrinkles on his exposed hands. His yuakata was mustard yellow. It didn't suit him.

I stepped out into the garden, being completely silent in hopes of scaring him half to death. It seemed as if all of my fear had left me at that moment while my stomach dropped from my nervousness. I had to refrain from cracking my knuckles so he wouldn't hear me.

Looking behind me I saw that Amaya was now gone and was replaced by the wall. I was alone with my father but only one of us knew that.

I took a quiet breath and shook my head. Why was I being so timid? Ugh, this was my old, stupid dad I was talking about. He probably couldn't even remember my name.

So I coughed. Loud.

The old man I think _seriously had a heart attack_ even though I wasn't serious in any single way. He jumped as high as Red could (but not really, that was a metaphor.) and his mustache almost fell off. (I am joking.)

He snorted and his head shot to me and only then did I see how old he had really gotten. From the entrance of the garden I had only seen one side of his head and now I saw all of it. His face was marked by wrinkle after wrinkle and his eyes were just slits of black. It was obvious he needed glasses because I think he saw me as a green and black blob. But I had been that to him his entire life.

"Y-Yuffie?" he asked in his gravely, old man voice and I could almost imagine him shakily pulling out glasses from his yukata sleeve and putting them on.

I let out a breath. So far so good, "Dad," I said simply and nodded.

He tried to smile and I couldn't believe it, "T-they had told me that you were coming," and I nodded again. I hadn't seen my father smile much when I was a child.

"But I didn't believe them," He said, snickering and slipping back into the father I knew when I was a child. I snorted like he did before.

"Ya think I was gonna abandon Wutai!" and yes, I was going to abandon Wutai a little while ago, but now I felt like I had to at least be _somewhat_ close to it again. (this did not mean that I was going to rule it. No way in hell.) I then forgot all reasons to why I was nervous about coming there.

My dad coughed, "Why, yes, I did," and I narrowed my eyes. What was the fart implying?

But then I frowned. I think he was serious.

"Are you shitting with me?" and he frowned too. Our faces matched. I was totally his daughter.

"Princesses don't use that sort of language, Yuffie," and I felt the familiar flames of anger shoot up inside of me. Vincent, this was your time to shine, babe: _YuffieAreYouOkay?_

"I can use any type of GOD DAMN language I want, old man!" and it was just like the old times. That made me sound old but it was true. We hadn't even hugged yet. After three years of not seeing eachother, the last word I had said to him being a 'no,' (_and I didn't even say that to him. I wrote it.)_ and we were already arguing. About me cursing. What was he, my dad?

And he _was_ my dad, believe it or not. He was just a bad one.

"Your way of speaking is unbecoming of a ruler of Wutai…to be," he added on hastily, "and men don't like women with dirty mouths," and he made me feel like a whore because he called me 'dirty.' My mouth twitched when he said ruler.

"Well, newflash, Dad, I'm not looking for a dude to sweep me off my feet right now," I said, folding my arms over my chest. I was a strong, tough, independent-

"Yuffie, you're twenty three, shouldn't you be having a husband by now?" he said with complete seriousness. At first I thought he was joking. But when he didn't break out into a smile and just sat there, looking at me like I should glue a ring to my finger. I gave him a blank look.

"What?" I said dumbly.

"I just think that at your age you should be settling-"

"I'm twenty, dad, twenty. Two zero. Nineteen plus one. Ten plus ten. Twenty," I tried to make it as clear as possible.

My dad's hand shook as he brought his hand up to brush his hair out of his face. I felt like shaking, too.

"Ah," was all he said, and then, "I knew that."

"Then why did you-"

"Come, Yuffie, have tea with me. We must….catch up. I can't seem to remember much of the time you used to spend here," he said, pouring some tea into a cup by his side.

My instincts kicked in and I sat in front of him on my knees, my hands on my lap. My fingers took the tea from him, setting it by my side until he finished pouring his own. My brain automatically went into overdrive and I remembered all of the correct and proper ways to drink tea. And I broke all of them.

I took a sip. It was gross.

"This tastes like your old laundry," I muttered.

"Your attitude is as sour as these apples," and I looked above me. Oh, apples.

"You have more wrinkles than a fat guys stomach."

"You have less respect than a juvenile delinquent."

"That was _really bad, _Dad. Try working on that."

And we did like, no catching up. I told him what I'd been doing the past three years ("Yeah, I joined AVALANCHE but you knew that. Now I like, help people, Dad. Like, actually doing good stuff, ever heard of it? Maybe you should try putting some good on this town _yadda yadda yadda.) _and then we just bickered like an old married couple.

It got awkward and fast, just like I predicted.

"So, any mistresses?"

He spit his tea back into his cup, making that moment the most non-proper moment of my dad's life.

"Excuse me?"

"Like, any lady folk? I'm pretty even old guys need some every now and then."

"What has gotten into you!"

"Are you honestly surprised?"

"No."

I mean, who would be surprised, really? I was Yuffie Kisaragi, known for being a ruckus. Ruckus. Ruckus. I sounded more and more like my father.

I ended up spitting my tea into the garden's lake with my father watching in horror. But not really was it horror, more like mock-shock and chiding. I ignored it.

Breaking every rule that was set into the stones of Wutai by my ancestors felt good. It gave me a feeling I hadn't felt since I was small (okay like four years ago.) of disobedience and fighting the power like every girl should do at one point in her life. Princesses aren't meant to just sit and watch.

They're mean to kick ass!

"You're going to kill the fishes," He told me as we watched the tea swirl around in the water under the bridge. I shrugged.

"I never liked them, they were ugly, anyways," I said.

"I can't see them very well so I wouldn't know. I keep forgetting where I set my glasses," he said.

I laughed emotionlessly, face blank, "You're going senile," I told him.

His eyes were dark and sad. He didn't look at me, "Not quite," He said.

I frowned and left it at that.

Amaya called us for dinner later on and I realized I had stayed long enough. I told my father I was going to go get the gang and we could all have dinner together because some part of me, however small it was, wanted to spend a little more time with my father before I didn't see him for like, another 100 years.

So I left the pagoda and entered the now dark village, my eyes on the lookout for spiky hair and red capes. Mostly the red capes, though.

But god hates me and let me find Cloud instead, sitting on the ground with his back propped up on the side of the weapons shop. I ran up to him, my feet creating loud, sharp noises on the cobblestone.

He looked up when he saw me.

"Cloud," I said, "My father wants you guys to come have dinner with him," even though I was the one who had suggested it. But they could never know that.

As if on cue, Barrett came stomping up over the bridge, his hands on his stomach.

"I'M STARVED!" he screamed at us. Cloud nodded at me and stood up.

"I'll go get everyone else, meet me at the front of my dad's house," I told him and ran off before Barrett could ask what was going on. Not that it was important in any way. (But food is always important so.)

I went searching throughout my village, using the 'I'll go look for everyone else' spiel as an excuse to look around the town I loved so much. Sorta, I guess. Maybe. So.

While turning through the alleyways and sticking my tongue out at the elders I had found everyone, them either talking to locals or looking bored. It was usually the later.

I was the leader for the first time, well ever, when I dragged them all over to the pagoda that housed food. That was the only reason they trusted me, I think, because I promised food. Especially Tifa, for she had mimicked Barrett when I found her, letting out a softer, "I'm starved!"

When I smelt the smell of perfectly cooked ramen and wonton soup, I almost burst into tears because I loved Wutai food so freaking much. It was perfect, really, spiced up well and sweet all at the same time. I'd bet you fifty gil that everyone except Vincent would hate it. And I only said Vincent wouldn't because he looked like he was Wutainese as well. (A constant theory I kept in the back of my head.)

I kicked open the door to my previous home, making Amaya look at me like I was an abomination of god. She stood by the dining room door, all prim and proper, with my father already sitting down at the table. It hit me then that she was his caretaker. But why?

All eight of us (but Tifa kinda counted as two people.) shoved our way through the small door frame and practically fell on our faces when we finally got inside. It was sorta comical, I guess, because Amaya had to cover her hand with her mouth and people only did that if they were laughing or in shock. Well, it could have been both, then.

But Barrett's head almost touched the ceiling and Red was scratching at the carpet and I knew right then that we were never meant to be in any proper situations ever. We were all too weird.

Amaya smiled at us, bowing in the traditional Wutainese way (and I did not bow back), and led us into the dining room. The table wasn't any bigger than I remembered and there was no possible way that all of us could fit. But, of course, Amaya had set up four pillows on each side of the table, my father sitting at one end, another pillow at the other one for Amaya, or so I assumed.

My eye twitched. That was where my mother used to sit, wasn't it? I couldn't remember much.

I sat on the edge closest to my father, Cloud across from me and Tifa next to him, duh. GOD DAMN Marlene sat next to me, munching on all of the fried noodles before Amaya had even served the tea. _Disrespectful little girl_, I had thought, but then I remembered that I had done the exact same thing when I was her age. Barrett didn't even slap her hand away like my father did me. He just joined her.

I coughed, "So, dad, I see you're letting this place go. Saw some paint chipping away. Can't say I'm proud of you," I mocked, almost lovingly. _Almostalmostalmost._

My father looked into his tea, "I just got the house re-painted," he told me in his deep voice. Amaya served the food. Multiple other conversations were being held around the table. Red was served a bowl of raw meat. I scoffed.

"Doesn't seem like it, old man," and my dad looked horrified. Amaya smiled at me from the other end of the table. Creepy.

I picked up a sushi roll from my plate and sniffed it rudely. I swore I saw Amaya winced, "Anyways," I started, "Anyone make it up the fifth floor after me? Pretty sure no one could beat Snake, everyone here is so wimpy nowadays," I told him, gobbling down my sushi. I chewed slowly. It wasn't as good as I remembered. Amaya was a shit cooker.

I saw Tifa move uncomfortably in her seat. She didn't like it. It was understandabl.e

"What?" My father said, looking up from his bowl of miso soup. I took a sip of tea.

"The…pagoda….fighting arena…thing? Remember? I kicked everyone's butt and then kicked yours? But that was when you could actually move without help!" I laughed and slammed down on the table with my hand out of embarrassment. Everyone looked at me.

"Oh," my father said, "Right. That."

I frowned. Obviously not a topic he wanted to talk about. I couldn't tell why.

"So, yeah, anyone?" I pressed on, and like I said, I enjoyed making people uncomfortable.

"Anyone what?"

I rolled my eyes, "Nevermind, you just don't wanna admit that I beat you. Bad."

"I don't know what you're talking about," and I thought he was saying that just to make it seem like he didn't remember losing, but for a moment I think he _seriously had no idea what I was talking about._

I looked around the table. Vincent's food was gone.

Assumption equals correct.

My mouth curved upwards.

"So, Lord Kisaragi," Cloud started and I sighed. He went off on what plans my dad had in store for the country, not really caring that it was private and confidential information. None of us really cared, though, because Cloud's 'I get what I want or I go pout in the corner' attitude was a normality for all of us.

Godo went on and on about stupid things he had planned for Wutai, including a festival of cherry blossoms (stupid) a resort hot spring being built around the natural ones out in the mountains (really stupid) and tax cuts. (Boring.)

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't stop my dad from making this place a tourist site, could I?

So I zoned out for the rest of dinner, watching as Vincent sipped at his tea slowly, similar to how he sipped at his beer. He was a delicate drinker, I decided, and giggled at the thought. The one single thing in the world Vincent Valentine was delicate with, it was drinks.

This made me sip mine at the exact same time and our eyes caught each others. He just stared at me, never breaking the gaze, and I winked at him. He didn't choke or anything, just took it in stride and set his teacup back down. What a Vincent way to handle things.

Tifa barely touched her food and spent the whole time talking to Barrett while he almost ate his _plate_ he was so hungry. I taught Marlene how to use chopsticks. Cid grumbled when Amaya asked him to put out his cigarette.

Eventually, we all finished our meals (finally, that meal had gone on entirely too long.) and Amaya took up our plates. I took a toothpick from the center of the table, set my elbows on the wood, and began picking out my teeth.

"I hope you don't expect me to sleep here, Daddio," I told him.

He grunted, "I hadn't gotten my hopes up," he shot back and I smiled.

"I bet you snore at night. And sleepwalk. Wait, no, I _know_ that you snore at night," I said, recalling the countless nights as a kid, not being able to sleep because it sounded like annual atomic bombs were going off in my parent's bedroom.

My father laughed and just patted my shoulder from across the table. I stiffened. He hadn't even hugged me goodbye when I left for my adventures in the forests. (Which sorta brought me into this whole entire situation because AVALANCHE found me in the forests.)

All this dinner was…was awkward.

Once the silence filled the room again, Amaya came back in and smiled at all of us.

"That you all for coming," she said sweetly and that was code for: Get out of my house right now you disruptive rascals.

I smiled back at her mockingly, "You're welcome," I told her, dislike gleaming in my eyes. She squinted her eyes at me.

Standing up created a chain reaction and everyone else shot up from their pillows, their knees probably aching from the uncomfortable position. Cid had switched from his knees to his ass halfway through dinner and Barrett didn't even try in the first place. I didn't blame him.

By the time we were all standing up correctly and walking towards the doorway (Red was already outside, I think.) my father was trying to stand up. I stayed behind while everyone else went out of the room. Walking over to my dad, I stared at him.

"Can't even stand up by yourself, old man? What's happened to you?" I watched as his tried pushing himself up from the table. I held a hand out in front of Amaya when she tried to help him.

"Y-Yuffie, give me a hand," he ordered and I stayed still.

"You rule a country. Don't give up so easily," I told him, my knuckles going white. Amaya gasped when he writhed to stand. His veins stood out of his arm. He was struggling.

"Y…Yuffie," He groaned and I sighed and rolled my eyes. I grabbed him by his bicep and yanked him up forcefully, albeit a bit meanly. I didn't care. This was my dad we were talking about.

He almost fell flat onto the table when he stood up straight. He was shorter than me. I looked down at him, for once taller than someone.

"Are you…alright?" I asked him when Amaya ran to his side. He was wheezing up a storm. I was slightly worried but not too much.

"I must head to bed now," He told me without looking up, "I will see you tomorrow, Yuffie," and with that he began to walk out of the kitchen, fist clenched similarly to mine.

I looked down at my hands to see the bearing resemblance of my father and I. Maybe we weren't as different as I thought.

Amaya glared at me. I raised my eyebrows. Intimidated? I think not.

"Your father is very ill," she told me. I snorted.

"Yeah, with being elderly and acting unproductively? I can tell."

Her forehead creased and she took a step closer to me, both of our fists clenched. It was fist clenching mania! Convention. Whatever. We were both angry. Well, she was. I was inwardly laughing.

"Your father has Alzheimer's, Yuffie! He's getting old and is beginning to forget everything about himself and everyone around him!" She growled at me and I stepped back. Her face was all scrunched up like an angry dog. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"He's always been forgetful, if you didn't know. Who do you think you are, anyways? You're not my sister, you're not my caretaker, and you're certainly _not my mother_," I told her, seething. No one in this entire world was my mother. And the closest person to one was Tifa, not this stupid woman in front of me.

"No, you ingrate!" I tensed my muscles. I was going to punch her in her pretty little face, "He was diagnosed a year ago. We all tried to get you to come home so you could know, but you were too busy running off with your new affiliates!"

I leaned forward, angry, "I was saving the god damn world, if you didn't know! If it wasn't for the people who you just ate dinner with, especially the weird one with blonde hair, you'd be dead! Everyone would!" I couldn't let her disrespect us like that. She didn't have the right to.

"Yes, yes, I know. We all do. But this is your father, your home, Yuffie, and you left us in the dark," She was trying to make me feel bad.

"You guys didn't exactly treat me the best, either," and this was the _exact_ reason why I was terrified of going there. They were going to accuse me and blame me for all of the shit that had happened to Wutai, even though if I had been there I wouldn't have been able to stop it. All I could have done was climb up trees and play pranks on people. I'd just be a bother.

When I didn't reply she said, "You're father is forgetting things. He doesn't know which treaties are which. He's called me countless other names than my own. I've found him in your bedroom, standing there, thinking, and when I asked him what he was doing he'd say he couldn't remember," and that made me bite my lip and my heart break.

I took a deep breath, "I've heard enough of your bullshit," I said and turned around. My eyes burned again.

"We need you, Yuffie," she said behind me. I kicked the dining room wall, leaving a dent.

"No you don't," and I left.

* * *

><p>I was ripping out my hair, burning my lungs, and ruining furniture all at the same time. If someone was watching me, (which they were.) they'd say it was an exciting sight.<p>

My old kitchen chair (I had _chairs_ in my house, not pillows, GOD DAMN IT) was thrown into the wall while my screams echoed the wall. Anger bubbled up inside my veins and wouldn't be released no matter how bloody my knuckles became.

I had stormed out of the house already screaming. Everyone was waiting outside for me, silent and bored. But, out of anger, I had broken open my father's front door (I would have had to pay for that later) and jumped down all three steps. I stomped past Cloud and the others, ignoring the questions and worried words. I walked through the village that was being ruled by someone who couldn't even remember the names of his own people. I scoffed and spit on the ground.

Cloud ran up to me with Vincent not far behind, grabbing my shoulder and demanding what happened. I had slapped his hand away and screamed for him to leave.

I locked myself in my old house, running straight for my room and tearing down the posters on the wall. My teeth were being ground away to nubs. My blood from my hands dropped to the floor.

I hated Wutai. I hated it so much. It wasn't good for anyone. I wish I was never born there. I wish I was never born.

I dropped to my knees in my bedroom, nails digging into my scalp and voice box torn apart. I wouldn't be able to speak the next day.

He was there, of course, in the door way, silent. He was watching me until I broke completely into a pile on the floor with tears and blood. None of them knew what was wrong and Tifa was probably crying her eyes out outside because she saw me so upset. Like I said, she was the closest thing I've ever had for a mother besides my actual one.

But I never broke down into a pile of tears and blood because I wasn't crying at all. I don't think I was sad in any way. I was just so angry, angry at my dad for forgetting things against his will, angry at Amaya for being a _stupid bitch_, and angry at my kitchen chairs for not being able to get my anger out.

So he didn't really have to wait any longer when I started to smash plates (expensive China plates from my grandparents, mind you.) onto my kitchen floor. He walked from the doorway, grasping my wrist and holding my hand up to his face. I stopped everything, watching his gloved hand grasp my own with complete carefulness.

I swallowed and didn't tell him to go away because I didn't want him to.

His metal claw went to grab some paper towels from the counter that was in easy reach. His eyes didn't stray from my hand and he gently dabbed the not wet paper towel on my split open knuckles.

I hissed in pain, "That _hurts."_

"Cope," He said simply and I clenched my jaw tighter until I felt like it was going to break. I whined and felt my anger drain while he mommy-ied me, complete with bandages (more like gauze, coming from the never ending amount of supplies he kept in his cape. He probably had a lollipop for me, too.) and soft touches. To my hands, I mean. Not my boobs. We weren't at that stage yet.

Once he finished my first hand and letting me sit down on one of the still standing kitchen chairs, pulling himself one too, I opened my mouth, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're hurt," he said simply and I deepened my frown.

"I will bet you 100 gil that you wouldn't do this if Barrett found out he was secretly white and started punching the ground," I said in complete seriousness.

"And what is the likeliness of that happening?" He spoke softly, grabbing another paper towel because the other one was stained with my blood.

"That's beside the point..," I murmured and tried to deal with the stinging sensation in my hand as best I could. It was hard.

"You hide your anger well, Yuffie," Vincent said slowly, "Almost as if you have none. I was waiting for you to do something like this."

So he could tell all along? I knew it, actually, ever since Attaboy. It was like I was transparent and he could see right through me.

"Do you ever think that I'm crazy? Messed up? I mean, I'm doing all of this because my dad's stupid caretaker told me that Wutai needs me. I don't think that's something to smash expensive plates about," I told him, looking down at my bandaged hand.

"You're angry because you're young," and I realized I hadn't grown up at all, "and you don't feel like you have any responsibilities," he said. He was right.

"But you do, Yuffie, and I apologize," I interrupted him like the child I was.

"Don't be sorry, you're stupid. This has nothing to do with you," I said. He almost cringed.

"I _apologize_," he started again, "for all of this happening to you. You don't seem to deserve all of his misfortune."

A lot of terrible things have been happening to me lately, haven't they? I guess that's just the way life is, though, and you can't change that. Hopefully it'll all pay off, though. Someday.

"But you don't even know what happened, Vincent," I said and squinted at him. His hair was in his face and I itched to brush it away with my bandaged hand.

"I can guess," he said when he finished wrapping my second hand. I brought them up to my face and pulled them to look like mouths. I moved them from open to closed and felt like a sea creature.

I ignored his sentence, "Look, I'm a crab," I said, pinching at his cloak. His eyes got smile lines and his lips barely curved upwards.

"Are you okay?" and I smiled for the first time in like twenty minutes.

"Physically? Yeah, these knuckles will be healed in no time, I can already feel them scabbing over," and that was a _total lie_. He just looked at me.

"No," he said simply and I knew what he meat. It was what he always meant.

"My dad has Alzheimer's. It's not that serious, I guess, and that's not what I was so upset about. Like, Amaya was trying to guilt trip me. She said that I should have been there for him. But what I can't seem to decide is that if I wanted to be there for my dad or the planet," I said. I wasn't even thinking of him when I was facing Sephiroth or the Remnants or Deepground. All I thought was doing good for the planet, like anyone should. I wasn't fighting for me. I was fighting for Vincent and Cloud and Tifa and everyone.

"Which one do you want to be there for?" He asked me.

I shook my head, "Isn't that what I just told you I couldn't decide?" I said this quietly, in a riveting whisper. My hair fell into my eyes when I looked down to my lap again.

"You have to if you want to move on," he said, his hand reaching out to brush my hair back. I was shocked and leaned backwards at his touch, simply out of the surprise. When he felt me revert he let his hand dropped. Bad move, Yuffie, bad move.

"Uh, um, sorry," I fumbled, "But I don't know. Shouldn't I want to be there for both? Or maybe I can't because I'm too small of a person to be there at all," I looked down at myself, my skinny legs barely touching the ground. My hair didn't reach my shoulders.

"Yuffie, you are the biggest person I know. And I mean that mentality wise and not physically," he added on the last part because he was afraid of me shoving his face into the dirt, I could feel it. What a wussy.

"Thanks, I guess, if that was a compliment," I said and knew that Vincent wasn't good at talking, ever. So I let it slide by. I wasn't mad for once.

"The reason I do all of this," he started, bringing my previous comment back into relevancy, "is because I care about you. In a sense that I do not want you to be upset. Over these past years, my connections with all of AVALANCHE have begun to mean more and more to me," he stopped.

"And you're no exception," he said which made the fluttering return. The happy flutters that make me feel like growing my hair down to my butt and wearing bright pink dresses. Fluttering that made me want to grab his face and kiss him all over and hug him until he can't breathe. And let him brush hair back behind my ears.

I shook my head, purposely letting my bangs fall into my eyes and obscure my view. It was annoying, feeling the bristles irritate my eye. But I think it was worth it at that moment.

"I seem to have something blocking my view. I think I'm going blind _oh my god Vincent save me_," I said and maybe that was a bit too dramatic. Maybe I was coming off too strong or being too desperate. Maybe I was vile to him…in his eyes. (_His really really really pretty red eyes. Since when did I have such a crush on him?)_

His face was as blank as a sheet of paper, something not tainted with scars from the past or emotions of the present. Something so pure and for once in his entire life, Vincent didn't look troubled. He looked normal, despite his red cloak and dark demeanor, and like someone I could hang out with. Someone I could talk to. (And I was already doing that.) Someone I could watch television with and shoot throwing stars at because it'd just be one big joke. Someone I could laugh with. And it'd be okay because even if Vincent didn't laugh much, his small chuckles could join my obnoxious bellows any day.

So when he brought his gloved fingers up towards to the hair that was brutally attacking my eyes (and making them water for all the wrong reasons.) I smiled. And it stayed there until he brushed back my bangs from my eyes and tucked the rest of the longer hairs behind my ears. I probably looked really stupid because I never push my hair behind my ears but I didn't care at that moment.

And he saved me from my own hair, my own anger, and my own fears all at the same time. And that's something I could never repay him for.

The flutters reached my heart and it took _every single bit of self control I had in my whole body_ to refrain from grabbing his face tightly in my hands and kissing him until he was dizzy.

It would have ruined everything that just happened, right?

Looking back, I can't say that I wouldn't have done that situation differently.

I probably would have kissed him. No, I definitely would have kissed him. Without a doubt.

Giving him a crooked smile, (and getting none in return.) I stood up and took a deep breath. I cleared my throat and stretched my hands above my head.

"Don't worry, Vince. I'm okay," I said when he stood up next to me. We went outside to go tell the others about everything that just happened and that they should _calm down for the love of god _because I was surprised they hadn't burst down the door. Cid looked like he was going to explode when I came out of the door.

Sure, I got a lot of suggestive looks from the guys about being in my house alone with Vincent, simply because they had never seen it coming and never would have guessed Vincent and I had a thing. (even though it was barely a thing at all. He brushed my hair back. The end.)

So we all headed back to the Shera after I told them everything that had happened (_everything, _I swear, I didn't lie this time.) and they didn't give me any sympathy pats because they were awesome friends and knew I didn't want any. And I liked it that way.

I watched _The Secret Life of the Gongogan Cetra_ with Cid and Barrett that night and they threw popcorn at me when I got teary eyed at the ending. Tifa showed me how her baby blanket was coming along (she was knitting it herself.) and let me add a few stitches. I ended up skipping a lot of stitched and leaving a miniature gap in the blanket and Tifa just laughed at me.

Red and Cait Sith let me ask them questions about what it was like to have hair covering their entire body without getting annoyed. (_"You have hair covering your entire body as well, Yuffie," and "How do YOU know!") _

Marlene let me take the first shower. Cloud ate midnight macaroni with me.

Oh, and I shook my hair out from behind my ears again. It wasn't because I wanted Vincent to brush it back again, no, not at all. I just couldn't look that stupid in front of anyone else but him.

* * *

><p><em>Guys...I have an entire page of extras for this story that basically include random things that happened to me while writing this story. Some of them include:<em>

_1) I tried writing to Men Without Hats's "Safety Dance" and almost killed myself._

_2)CID'S NAME IN JAPANESE IS Shido Haiwindo ISNT THAT AMAZING?_

_AND VINCENT'S IS Vinsento Varentain._

_3) YOU GUYS I MADE AN OC! I NEVER MAKE OC'S! I MADE AN OC! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

_4) Cid Meier sucks and won't let me install Civilization 4 onto my computer. Thank him for me writing 4,000 extra words these past few days. I usually write 5,000 a day but today I wrote 9,000. Boo to the yah._

_Welp. This is my life. Review pl0x._


	6. Chapter 5

_The author steps up to the plate, swinging a couple times to get a feel for the bat. There's the pitch, she swings, hits, and it flies!_

**_First base is reached! _**

**_(I SUCK AT FORESHADOWING)_**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER FIVE<strong>

I hadn't expected much the next morning. I knew I was going to have to go back and face the music (which was a pounding symphony of dependency and need.) and also my father. Oh, and Amaya. That bitch.

But for the moment I decided to spend it eating Bran Flakes, regular Bran Flakes, mind you, the next morning. They were grainy and had too much fiber in them for me to actually enjoy. The milk made them all squishy and floppy, and I _hate_ my cereal like that. It was a pile of mush by the time I took my second bite.

"_Cid!"_ I had screeched, "How do you eat these monstrosities?"

"It's my GOD DAMN cholesterol!" He yelled out from the command room, obviously throwing pride out the window to fall to the ground, "Shera wants me to keep goin' on those fucking diets. So she gave me those things. But I ne'er actually eat em, but don't tell 'er that," He muttered the last part.

"How do you even know what I'm eating, though?"

I got no reply and filled my bowl up with water from the sink, then shoving the remains into the garbage disposal. Tifa always told me not to do that but I had always disregarded her, writing her off as some worried mother, thinking that the garbage disposal getting clogged was the end of the world.

It was around ten o'clock in the morning and I was showered and dressed, ready to face the world yet wanting to crawl into a hole and hide from it all at the same time.

Cloud and Tifa had taken this opportunity to sleep in due to Wutai's much more stable nature and that there weren't dying people out on the streets. It was kind of pathetic that they took this moment as some sort of vacation while I still wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

Barrett was already outside on the streets, claiming that the Shera got to stuffy when it wasn't in flight. I was usually the same way but this was a different situation. Red was probably taking a shit somewhere. And no one cared about Cait Sith.

Vincent was in the kitchen, too, believe it or not. He had a bagel placed in front of him and was_ very, very_ slowly eating away at it. He always was a really slow eater, as I've noticed. Except for last night, when he ate his meal faster than the speed of light and _what was I noticing all of these things for?_

Let's face it, okay? All of us, right now. Open your mouths and say it with me. 1, 2, 3…

_Yuffie is a wimpy little girl!_

There, good job.

It was true, really, I'm not going to try and deny it. I was just stalling as much as possible. It was nearing lunch time and I hadn't budged from the kitchen. I hadn't even looked outside a single window ever since I entered the Shera and fell asleep. It was as if the site of Wutai after last night would make me sob and implode all at the same time.

If it were any other town, I'd be outside already, doing cartwheel and playing with the kids. I'd be bold and annoying and more like myself. And let's face it, I was not being a normal Yuffie lately. I mean, the old Yuffie wouldn't have destroyed her old home because of some stupid caretaker her father had, right?

Maybe ever since that day Attaboy ran away I was falling apart.

"Yuffie," Vincent said from the kitchen table, forcing me to turn around and face him. His bagel was gone along with his water. (He never drank anything with flavor.)

"Eh?" I asked, hand on my hip.

"You're going to have to go out there eventually," and my eyes got wide again, my fingers twitched. It was as if he could _seriously see through me and I know I said this before but it was totally true._

"You know, I was like, just thinking about that," and he looked at me, surprised.

"Thinking about going outside, I mean. Not actually doing it," I said seriously and his face turned from interest to his regular brooding expression. So much for that.

"Yuffie," he said again, almost pleading with his words. I shook my head. _I _was going to be the one who decided when I went outside. Not him. Even though he was being really awesome with everything going on….I still wasn't going to let him influence me. In ways that I didn't want to be influenced, I meant.

"Yes, that is my name," I said, sorta meanly and sorta sassily. I hope he understood it more as teenager girl banter than me being rude.

He grunted, "Your father-"

"Don't you dare say he needs me! I'll go and rip apart Tifa's baby blanket it you do," I said and maybe that was a bit extreme.

"But…it's the truth," he murmured, standing up and going to wash his plate in the kitchen sink.

I grunted just like he did. My father was perfectly fine by himself. He had Amaya and his wonderful village to take care of him. I wasn't going to be any help. All I would have done was screw things up even more than they were already screwed. Because that's all I do, right? Screw things up?

"Just think about it," he said, "It'd be unwise to stay here all day," and I sighed.

"Didn't I _just_ say that I was thinking about it?" and I was being a brat.

I could _feel_ his glare on the back of my neck and finally relaxed all of my tense muscles when I heard his metal boots turn around and leave. I swallowed. I wasn't being myself in any way.

Would the original Yuffie go outside and face her father and caretaker (her _father's_ caretaker. _Not_ hers.) who were both probably kinda sorta angry at her? Hell yes! She'd go out and not give a shit and show them her pants. She would show them her GOD DAMN pants just like she showed Barrett when all of this started. She'd be awesome.

"Vincent," I called, loudly enough for him to hear.

Her footsteps stopped and he hadn't made it very far. I was turned towards the command room, my back facing him. I didn't know if he turned around or not.

"Hmm?" or he made something along that noise, indicating his attention.

"I'm gonna go," I said, slowly, and before he could say anything else, "and not give a shit."

BAM!

* * *

><p>All of my courage left me the moment I was faced with the ultimate boss: my father's front door.<p>

Yuffie, equipped with nothing but thick skin and a terrible attitude, uses defend!

I didn't attack, because that'd be useless. (Oh, and the door had been repaired _already_ from my whole…punching a huge whole through it from the night before. So attacking it would prove even more useless.) I just stood there, and if I had my Conformer with me it'd be in front of my face, being used as a shield.

I wasn't being cowardly, I was just being realistic. Let's face it; my biggest fears were behind that door.

If _you_ (and I don't even know who I'm talking to right now.) were pitted against _your _biggest fears, let it be spiders, your grandmother, or large meteors, (that was mine for awhile.) you'd rather defend yourself from it than kick it in the balls. (Even though your grandmother doesn't have balls. That is beside the point.)

So I was acting normally, for once.

_I wish they had a doorbell_, I had thought, because I could ring it and run away. And play a prank, because that's what Yuffie does, right? I'm mother fucking Yuffie and I don't even know what I do…or did….or does. All I was was some big ball of questionable thoughts.

But instead they had a simple, little, wooden door that had a differ shade from the rest of it in the center. It was from me, duh, and it was a perfect description of my place in Wutai. All around me was this giant mass of similarity, all the same morals and hair and plans for the future, and then there was me, with short hair, actual personality (albeit not the best.) and the ability to kill Sephiroth. But the last one was just a perk.

Why was I being so philosophical in front of my father's front door?

I threw all of my past thoughts onto the ground (to be met with all of the people of Wutai.) and raised my hand without looking back. I knocked.

Almost instantly, Amaya opened the door and greeted me with the fakest of smiles. I didn't smile back. Disbelief and some sort of laughter filled my eyes. Her fake happiness was amusing to me. Was that sadistic?

"Yuffie!" she exclaimed _just like yesterday and just like nothing ever happened._ A shiver ran down my spine.

"Hi," I said.

"Your father's been waiting for you!" and that was the one thing I didn't want to hear at all. My stomach flipped.

"You sure he didn't just fall asleep while standing again?" I said and she just gave me a look of disgust. But it wasn't that evident. I could just tell because I've been able to read the faces of the people of Wutai for years.

He does fall asleep while standing though! It's really funny and creepy at the same time! Once, when I was like, ten, I was eating dinner alone because my father and I rarely ever had dinner together (last night was a rare occurrence.) and I peer down the hallway and my dad's standing there. So I call out his name and he doesn't reply, making me stand up and only to see that his eyes were closed and he was about to fall over.

That was a terrible story but it was true.

"U-hum, no," she said and I rolled my eyes when she turned around to bring me inside.

"Wait!" I let out and used one of my shoes to hold down the other so I could slip out of it. My now socked feet did the same to the other door. I kicked my shoes to the ground, along with my fears.

Now it was Amaya's turn to roll her eyes which made me roll my eyes again and we got into this really small 'How-Stupid-Are-You?' fight. But she never said those words but I knew she was thinking them because everyone in the history of Wutai had thought 'Yuffie Kisaragi is the stupidest person I've ever met.' Even my ancestors, people who had never met me, said it.

Once I finished discarding my shoes, I walked past her and into my previous house, turning down the hallway and into the garden.

Maybe the trees and brush were blocking my view, but I didn't see my dad. Anywhere. Maybe he was hiding in there somewhere, behind the tinkling fountain or the wind chimes, but if he was he certainly didn't want to be seen. And I knew exactly why the moment I walked into the garden.

"Uh," was the first word I uttered when I saw them, their ugly wrinkled faces not having a hint of emotion on them. I could barely even see their eyes. All I saw were flabby pieces of skin.

One of them coughed. It was really awkward for a moment and I considered running back to the Shera and telling Cid to fly all the way to the Forgotten Forest so I could hide in their giant seashells. But I didn't, I stood my ground, and clenched my fists. My busted knuckles screamed from underneath their wrappings.

"Miss Kisaragi," the one in the middle said, his mouth barely moving from its original straight line. The elders were the most boring people ever.

And I groaned. Really, really loud, actually. It was long and drawn out until I needed to breathe again. It was deep and kinda riveted throughout the large garden. The elders didn't move. The middle one didn't speak anymore. I looked above me in despair.

"I do _not_ want to talk to you guys," I said, "Where is my father?"

They all twitched, practically at the same time. It was funny and then I realized I was in front of the elders of Wutai.

"You're father is occupied," they said in their high pitched Wutaian voices, "But we wish to talk to you."

"Well that makes one of us! See ya," I said and was totally ready to just turn around and leave, so when I showed them my back I was met eye to eye with my father.

I stopped, "Uh, hey, Dad," I said, awkwardly. I was trapped.

"Yuffie, sit down," oh my god oh my god they were going to try to convince me to go to college or something weren't they. _How many times had I told Dad that I didn't want to go to school and just save the world for the rest of my life-_

"No," I refused and watched as he walked past me and sat down on the unoccupied pillow on the right.

I turned back around and faced them all. My teeth were grinding again and I wanted to bite my fingernails. I shoved my hands into my pants pocket.

"What's this whole convention thing about? I gotta get going soon," I said and that wasn't the biggest lie. I meant soon as in the next day, because Cloud had planned a two and half day visit before we went to Fort Crondor. So I didn't have to get going as soon as they thought I did.

Well, I don't think they believed me, but whatever.

"We'll try to make this go as quickly as possible," and that was the biggest lie in the whole world.

I grunted in response, wanting them to get on with it. I already knew what they were going to say.

"How old are you, Miss Kisaragi?" The one next to my father asked, a woman. _Did they all have Alzheimer's too? _

"I'm twenty. I turned twenty two months ago, right before I joined DOWNFALL," I said. They looked at me like I was stupid.

"The country of Wutai has gone two years over the amount of time a leader should be renewed," they started. Yup, bingo. I was right.

"Your father is incapable of ruling this country for much longer, Yuffie," they said my name like it was poison.

"Yeah, and what do you want me to do about it?" I said, like a child. I almost folded my arms over my chest like I always did.

They grumbled, "You are the last of the Kisaragi Royalty Line and the only one who is fit to take the throne," and _nonononono_.

"Without you accepting to take over all of Wutai, we will be forced to choose from the previous generation, full of fools and peasants," and I was sort of shocked they called their own people peasants. My eyes narrowed. Wutaians didn't deserve to be called those names.

"Aren't I just a fool, too, though? I know that's what you always thought, don't try to hide it," I said and the middle one winced. I laughed, they were uncomfortable.

"You are royalty," is all that they said and I scoffed.

"Anyone could be royalty, ya know? It's not the blood in you, it's the way to handle things," I stopped, "If you hadn't noticed, I don't handle things well. I'll just end running away in the middle of the night and abandoning everyone," I said, despite my love for Wutai flowing through me. We all knew it was the truth.

"Our ancestors wanted that only their relatives take the throne. You, Yuffie Kisaragi," the poison returned, "Are their daughter," I twitched. I was no one's daughter.

"Shut up," I spat at them, bringing my arms out of my pockets, "All I would do is tear down the hotels. And give the kids growing up some backbone. I wouldn't follow your stupid plans of making this place a resort," I said, feeling strong. Pride and courage welled up inside of me when I spoke.

The elders ignored me, and they spoke the only words I was dying not to hear, "We need you as Lord Kisaragi The Second."

The name sounded ugly to me, as if someone had spit all over it and thrown it into the dirt. I was never meant to rule anything except for my own life.

"But what if I don't want to?" I asked them.

"It is your duty," they said, stiff and unmoving. They didn't seem to hear a word I was saying.

"No. Nu-uh. Not gonna do it."

Their attitudes didn't change. It was as if they didn't hear anything that wasn't according to their plan. They brushed me off like I was dust on their shoulder.

"You have to, it's part of who you are," they said.

I stuck my nose into the air and faced them with a glare, "Who I am? How do you know who I am? I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, duh, but that doesn't mean I'm your sort of toy," they edged back, "I like to kick ass. It's what I do, and you guys should learn how to do it too, or at least teach the kids of today how to. This village is a pile of crap compared to what it was when I was growing up," I said.

"I like to travel the world and break the rules and be a rebel. I _don't_ like to sit down all day and watch people do stuff for me. I hate that, unless they're making me food," it was true, "But if someone is fighting for me, I get angry. And I know that all you guys like that. Not when I get angry, I mean, when someone fights for you, so I'm not a good fit," I said.

They all just sat there and looked at me. Their faces didn't move an inch.

"It cannot be undone," they said.

"Too late, broski. It undid it like I undid my shoelaces. No changing that," and on the inside, I was breaking.

* * *

><p>I was running, running from my father's home and my own old one. It was cowardly and I think that was the most cowardly moment of my entire life. It was afraid and ran away from when people needed me. They were depending on me and all I did was yell at them and storm off.<p>

But I didn't look back, not even when I heard my father's voice call after me when I kicked open the front door. (This time I did not leave a mark.) I was hell bent on just leaving the whole place. I could just put the whole thing behind me, never see it again. I could run away for good. That would set them straight and put into their heads that I _didn't want to rule this village._

So I left, actually. But I didn't get that far because all I did was get past the outskirts and into the grassy fields around Wutai. That was where the Shera was landed and where all of my friends were. People who actually cared about me were in there, not stupid falsies.

I would have kicked open the hatch out of blind rage and I think I did try to, but the metal stubbed my toe so bad I would have kneeled over in pain if I wasn't so eager to get inside. I peeled open the hatch (well, as well as someone could peel metal.) and crawled inside.

Once inside I looked at the clock. It was 1:15. At night. Did I mention it was at night? Yeah, I ended up chilling in the basement of my own house for a few hours. (I was actually furiously throwing my collection of materia around the room, kinda crying over my stolen 400.)

So no one was awake for me to scream at. Well, Vincent probably was, because I've never seen him sleep a wink in my entire life, but I liked him too much to go to him. Or maybe not. If he was my last resort, I'd gladly cry my eyes out in front of him.

I went into the kitchen and angrily poured myself a bowl of Bran Flakes. Well, I poured it as angrily as one could. (Which included shaking the box until the flakes fell out and spilling the milk everywhere.) I didn't bother to clean up the mess I had made.

I ate it while crying. Is that sad? I think it was sad in a sense that I had been degraded to sobbing into my cereal at one in the morning. No one was there to hear me. No one was there to care.

I was just having a pity party, though, nothing more. It was just something that needed to be done for me to calm down. First I had to get really, really angry and then cry it all out. And then I would be okay and free to leave and never come back.

The plan sounded simple and fine and when I finished my cereal and shoved the 3/4ths of it that I didn't eat down the sink I made my way back to my room. But not really, because I'm Yuffie Kisaragi and always have something up my sleeve.

Right before I reached my own room I took a sharp turn and if anyone was watching they'd think that I was going to smash directly into the wall. But I didn't, and only smashed into a door. I didn't actually smash into, stopping shortly before my nose made contact with the material that made up Cid's bedroom door. It was time to put my cowardly actions into plan.

I turned the doorknob without even thinking and slowly walked into the room. I shut the door behind me so that the light wouldn't wake him up. But I was going to wake him up shortly, anyways.

Blindly, I stumbled through Cid's bedroom, tripping over what I thought was his underwear and clothes. Maybe some porn magazines, too. I heard some pages turn when I accidentally kicked around.

The only sound that filled the room was Cid's incredibly loud snoring. I was used to it already, simply because I was forced to, due to my room being right next to his. It was sorta comforting from a distance. From up close….it was plain annoying. I again wondered why Shera kept him.

My stumbled around was totally drowned out by Cid's nose so I didn't have to worry about that. My tears were dry on my cheeks and I moved almost frantically, as if waking him up would make everything go away.

"Cid," I whispered by his bedside, not being able to see a thing except for total darkness. The scene would be pretty creep if you could see me, crouching over him, almost as if I was watching him sleep. But I wasn't, gross, ew, no, he's like fifty years older than me. Blech. Poor Shera.

He did nothing but continue to shore, this one a loud, nasally one that seemed like it hurt. I cringed and whispered his name again, "Cid!"

I was growing afraid by then, my brain conjuring images of my father coming to get me, and the elders scrambling up the side of the airship. The image was sorta funny for a moment and then the terror of it all sunk in, all the way to my bones. My eyes widened and my hand reached out to grasp what I thought was Cid's shoulder.

"_Cid!"_ I shrieked, shaking him wildly. My heart was beating faster and faster, and along with it crept disgust. I was racing to leave before I decided not to and go back and take the throne. It was obvious.

His snoring stopped midway, causing a strange, "Gargh!" come out of his mouth. I didn't laugh.

His next instincts were to grab my arm that was on his shoulder and crush it in between his two fingers. Now, Cid may be old, but his strength does not pale in comparison to Barrett's and Cloud's. He could pack a pretty hard punch.

"Jesus Christ, Cid!" I howled when I felt my bones threatening to snap, "It's Yuffie, for the love of god!"

His hold did not loosen until five seconds had passed, the squeezing on my hand continuing on for a few more moments than necessary. I winced when he finally did let go, moving to rub my now sore wrist in-between my hands.

I opened my mouth to ask him to _move his ass and leave this place_ but he beat me to it.

"What the _fuck_ are you doin' _fuckin'_ here while I'm tryin' to _fuckin' sleep_ for the love of _fuck_ go the _fuck _away you shitface," he said.

If I was being normal Yuffie and wasn't about to die from bent up emotions, I would have clapped and told him he reached a new record. (Even though that wasn't true, he's said the glorious f-bomb every other word in a sentence before.) But I wasn't normal at that moment.

The first thing I said was: "I am _not_ a shitface."

The second thing I said was: "I need you to get up."

He was almost back to sleep by the time I said _not._ I shook him again.

"I am not fuckin' gettin' up even if Tifa decided now was the time she wanted to pop out her GOD DAMN baby," he said.

I rolled my eyes, "That's a lie. Now get up and fly me to the Forgotten City. I miss Aerith," and if I was talking to any other human being than Cid, they would have cried at my words and done anything I said. But this was Cid and he didn't give a fuck about me and my feelings.

"Yeah, and I miss my rocket, go the hell away," he said.

I frowned, "That's a bit too far, don't you think? Aerith was a human being!" I surprised myself, talking so much about things unrelated to running away.

Cid groaned, "Yuffie, just leave me the fuck alone."

I slapped his arm, hard.

"Look, old man, I was just asked to rule this entire country," even though 'just' wasn't the appropriate word, "and I have these things in my stomach that make me feel like I'm gonna barf all over your ship. And they're not good barfs, at all. They're bad and I only get them when I'm here, because people I don't like ask too much of me. So we need to go away, right? We're no good for Wutai, we're all too weird and screw up. So please," first time I've ever said please to Cid, "get up and take us to go see Aerith and away from this place. Or I'll go fly it myself."

The last line got to him, I know that for sure. If I hadn't said it he would have just fallen asleep with me still talking to him because I spoke for so long. But because I threatened to fly that huge hunk of junk (_you'.) _he flung the covers off of his pajama-clad body (they were penguin patterned.) and shoved his feet into the slippers on the ground.

I inched backwards, my back being pressed against the wall. I tried to watch him but I could only hear his movements and then suddenly he turned on the bedside lamp next to him.

I squinted in pain and reached up to shield my eyes, my wrist aching.

"God damn it," he said, "That lamp hurts every time."

I would have offered a comical banter. But I didn't.

"Let's go," I said.

* * *

><p>We (I) tried our (my) hardest to be as quiet as possible. We turned on as little lights as we needed to see and were greeted by strange glances from the workers. But we ignored them (well, mostly me. Cid trudged along in the darkness and would have flown the ship naked if he had to. He loved that ship more than his wife. ….Even though it was named after her. What?) and made our way into the command room. Well, Cid did, and I stopped by the kitchen and made another bowl of Bran Flakes because my other bowl tasted like tears. That was a really depressing sentence.<p>

My mind was finally starting to think of things other than Wutai's practical impending doom when I took my first bite of the gross flakes. It was relaxing for a bit, hearing Cid start up the engine (which was so obnoxiously loud.) and the workers letting out their small protests. They were so used to the normal routine, which must have been a huge shocker for them

_Deal with it_, I thought, chewing angrily. As far as I knew, no one else was awake. At least, that's what I hoped. Cloud and Tifa were probably out like a light, along with Barrett. Marlene was probably awake. Red and Cait Sith wouldn't have gotten up to ask questions. Vincent was most likely too engrossed in counting the stitches in his blankets.

_Count the ceiling tiles_, I mocked, remembering that night. It was fun, really, imagining Vincent Valentine being reduced to counting the ceiling tiles. And then how he recommended for me to do it too. As if.

I was surprised that Cid wasn't asking any questions, as if he was just going to fly to the Forgotten City, no questions asked. But something had to go haywire, didn't it?

"What is going on, Yuffie?" Ah, shit, yes. I knew that was going to happen. How wonderful.

"We're leaving, can't you tell?" I asked him, and he looked weird without his cloak on. Different, easier to approach. I wasn't intimidated by him anymore. (I never was, anyway.)

He wasn't wearing boots, either, and his steps towards me were more silent, concealed, than they would have been. It was a whole new experience. While Vincent didn't make much, I always associated his presence with clanking around clothing.

I was at the last bite of bran flakes, "It is 2 o'clock in the morning," he said.

"Look who can read a clock!" I said.

"Yuffie…where has the other Yuffie gone?"

Wasn't what I just said a very Yuffie like sentence? Wasn't it something everyone wanted to hear, as if it makes sure that I was still there with my playful banter and teenage attitude? (But _I wasn't even a teenager anymore.) _I thought it would comfort him and make him not ask me emotional questions about if I'm happy or not.

I poked my forehead, "She's still here. I don't know why everyone's thinking that I've gone away. I'm not leaving anytime soon," I said, lifting the bowl up to my lips so I could sip out the milk.

"Then why is Cid starting up the Highwind?" We all still did that, slipping up the Shera and Highwind. At first, I was really sad that Cid got rid of the huge hunk of junk, simply because it held so many memories for all of us. (Like me, barfing all over the engines. And writing a contract that let me have everyone's materia after the war. Good times.)

"First of all," I started, "We are on the Shera, not the Highwind."

"That does not matter," He retorted quickly, before I could even start the second part of my sentence.

"Yeah, it does, because if Cid heard you he'd throw your sorry butt out of this ship," I said, slurping down the last bit of the milk in my bowl.

"Yuffie," he said and I realized I was not ready for this at all. I didn't want to be lectured and talked to about if I was okay or not and if I was going to cry and if I was sad. And I didn't want to hear these things from _Vincent_ of all people. Couldn't he just mind his own business?

"Vincent! For the love of god. I honestly don't see you going up to Tifa and asking her if her pregnancy is alright, or if Marlene is okay. Because, shit, Marlene is worse than me! She's growing up around _us_ for god's sake, not normal kids. I'm normal. Vincent. Please, understand that I just can't handle Wutai right now. They're too many things there that I shouldn't have to deal with. So we're leaving. Okay? Okay. Stop worrying. I'm not that important."

Vincent's face cast away its usual angry expression and replaced it with one I had never seen before. Affection. Something that screamed those three gross little words that no one ever said to me. At least, when they didn't have to.

"You're not okay," He said. And I never was.

I grunted.

"You're not alright," He said. And I wasn't.

"Whatever," I said, putting my dish in the sink. I wasn't going to deny it.

"You're angry and have too much stress," He said.

"And what are you? Some sort of emotion detector? How come every time I'm upset and sad and all of these stupid things, you're the one who's there for me? You're the one that pops out of nowhere and cares. Cloud never does that. Tifa doesn't. No one does except for you! And I never saw you doing all of this kindness routine four years ago. So why? Why now?"

But all he did was grab my hands that I had unconsciously raised out of anger and pull me to him. He made sure to grab my palms and not my still hurting knuckles and I found that action kind. My nose brushed his shoulder and he smelled like wet dog.

"You smell like wet dog," I said when he didn't say anything. I had broken the silence that had so easily formed between us. One of his hands traveled to my waist, the other one still on my hand. Three years ago, Vincent never would have done this.

Tears formed, "You're different, too," I whispered into his shoulder, "You're not angry anymore," and by holding me to his chest he let me see that people can change, and that along with me, he was unlike himself. A lot can happen in four years, can't it? So why had all of this stuff been happening to me in a span of a month?

He just shifted his arm, holding me more tightly to him. It was comforting, yes, and I really enjoyed the feeling of finally knowing that someone was there for me. I had gone years, practically a decade without someone's hand to hold or shoulder to cry on and here was the last person I'd ever expect, doing the exact thing I've been missing out on.

The tears didn't spill. At least, I don't remember giving him a wet spot on his shoulder. They just stayed there, on my eyelashes, until I blinked them away. He was silence like always and stood straight like always and was dark like always, but this time something was not normal. (_Which of these is not like the others?)_ He was softer. When I backed away and looked up at him, simply to see what he looked like, (in all of his sexy glory) his eyes were narrowed. But not in that 'Imma kill you!' way that Vincent usually has, but in the 'I care about you,' way he never has.

Care. It was something I needed mentally. My body was as healthy as a horse but on the inside I was rotting away into depression and self hate. Well, maybe not, but it was close enough.

And because of all of his Vincent-y kindness and strange generosity, I thanked him. But I thanked him by totally snogging him.

That's right. I kissed him. And I totally just ruined this whole moment.

I could go on and on about how 'Silky soft his lips were on mine and how sparks flew like fireworks coming out of Red's ass' but none of that happened. It went like this:

Yuffie looks at Vincent.

Vincent looks at Yuffie.

Yuffie's face turns into awe!

Vincent's face stays as rock!

Yuffie has huge (sorta) epiphany!

Vincent stands still.

Yuffie leans forward and takes a huge risk that could potentially ruin their whole relationship!

Vincent does not move, neither does he seem like he _wants_ to kiss Yuffie.

Yuffie gives no shits!

Yuffie kisses Vincent anyways!

Vincent's grip on Yuffie tightens. (Good sign!)

Yuffie is a terrible kisser and just stands there awkwardly.

Vincent does not reject! Score!

And that is the story of how I kissed Vincent Valentine for the first time. The end. Zip. Doo dah. You're welcome. Sayonara. I'm done.

Actually, I'm not, and a lot of more things come out of this story than just a kiss that sounded like a Pokémon battle. More serious things that I should start getting to. Okay. Okay. I'm starting now.

So it was awkward, yes, let's all admit that. He was as cold as a stone and didn't move like a squirrel on the road, but once my lips left his and left a disgusting 'plop!' sound, he looked at me. He looked at me so deeply I thought he could see my liver. But it was thoughtful and sorta scary all at the same time and I liked it. It made me feel like I was wanted.

My face erupted into a blush. I almost actually brought my hands up to cover my face but I decided that it would be better if he saw it, to know that I was embarrassed and _what._

Since when did I care about what guys thought about me? _Since when did I randomly kiss men?_

I didn't see myself kissing Cid. I didn't see myself kissing my dad. I didn't see myself kissing Cloud. (oh wait that one actually happened.)

_Ugh_, I thought. What had happened to me?

Oh well! I kissed Vincent Valentine and that's all that matters!

"Uh," was the first word I let out, "Congratulations. You've made it to first base," I said, looking at his pouty face. He still didn't move.

"Yuffie," he said.

I still didn't stop, "….after…uh, how old are you? 57? _Oh my god is this illegal?" _I splurred out, my eyes moving randomly throughout the room. The sink needed cleaning.

"I am twenty seven," were the first words he told me after I kissed him.

"What is it? Half of my age plus seven or something? Well that'd be 17 and that doesn't make sense_._ And you've been twenty seven for four years. So we're gonna have to pull some awesome aging shit on you when I turn 27, broski," he was looking at me strange, "uhhh…I mean. You've made it to first base."

I bet Lucrecia never kissed him.

"You're ruining the moment," He said.

"I know," and a light bulb went off in my head. The moment. This was a moment, wasn't it? A special one, at that. Something that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life. My heart fluttered and I smiled. I wanted to stay with him and I didn't know why.

"We need to leave," I said, finally registering the familiar noise of the Shera taking off. Cid was smoking, I could smell that too. I didn't yell at him for it. I didn't even know why he was doing this for me.

"Stop running from your demons," He scolded me and I looked to see if his fists were clenched. But instead they were relaxed right by his sides, floating. I envied his self control.

"They're not demons. It's my dad," and they were the same thing.

"Only three months ago would you….," he struggled, "kick your fathers head if he was doing this," he refrained from saying ass.

"I don't even know what he's doing. I just don't like it," I told him. It was true.

"That's a bit stupid," he said, but made it sound completely like something Vincent would say. I was shocked. His deep voice coated the words with so much of his whole being I almost found the word 'stupid' dark.

For once, I was the one who didn't say anything back. I just stayed silent and looked at the ground. It wasn't wet or ruined or anything. It was just a plain tile kitchen floor. Nothing bad had ever happened to it.

So I look up, pulling my head upwards and staring at the ceiling. My eyes burned from the light from the overhead lamps, but I didn't stop looking. I stared into the light bulbs until all I saw was blue. And I smiled. I smiled huge and big, despite the emotions rumbling around inside of my stomach. My teeth were showing and my eyes were crinkling. _I was smiling so hard-_

"Stop smiling," He said, "You're not happy."

My face immediately dropped. My eyes were drooped and my shoulders sagged. The blue light from the lamps were making my eyes water, but I wasn't crying. I wasn't crying.

"But I wish I was," I whispered, my neck beginning to ache in protest from my strange position. My heart sank. All I wanted to be was happy. I hadn't been happy for so long.

"We all wish for things," I grumbled softly, lifting his clawed hand, reaching for me. I didn't move forward, I stayed where I was, staring at the ceiling.

I was depressed. I think. For the first time in years, and for the first time I actually realized it, I was depressed.

They all, everyone, everyone I've ever loved and love now didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve to be forced into being put with an annoying adult who misses being a teenager. No one did. No one should have to put up with me. I didn't want to annoy everyone. I didn't want to make people hate me.

_I don't care what people think about me._ But shouldn't you? Shouldn't you have to worry about if the ones you love are being sad _because_ of you? I don't give a flying fuck if the elders in Wutai hate me, or if Rufus Shinra hated me, or if the Turks hated me, but if Vincent, Tifa, Cloud, _anyone in that GOD DAMN airship_ hated me, I don't know what I'd do. No matter what I do, steal from them, eat their cereal, pull pranks on them, it's all _oozing_ with love. _If Attaboy hated me I'd break-_

"I'm sorry," I whispered, reaching up to wipe the wetness from my eyes. I was going blind by then, "All I am is annoying," I said.

I couldn't tell if they were tears or simply my eyes burning off, but whatever I wiped from my hand made me look at him. With clear, dark eyes, I stared into him like I always have. I couldn't see him very well, my entire vision being marred by blue and black dots _everywhere_, but I still saw him. And he was _everything_.

"We only know you as annoying," and he spoke for the entire group of DOWNFALL and my father and the entire world, "But we wouldn't settle for anything less."

And I let out this little (actually, it was kinda loud.) laugh-sob. It was short and burst from my mouth in a span of two seconds. I was sure they were tears then, because they streamed steadily down my face. Straight down, till my chin. It was pathetic.

"I love you," I said, and it was so damn true, "I love all of you guys."

Some sort of fluttering churned around in my stomach and while it wasn't happiness, it was something good. Something that made my eyes brighter.

All of the emotion in the stupid, tiny kitchen of the Shera made me stumble backwards, my hands grasping onto the countertop behind me. My hand actually slipped into my then empty bowl of bran flakes, creating a loud clanking noise to echo around the kitchen. I probably woke everyone up.

I let out a garbled "Aaarrrgghhhaa!" and turned around, rinsing the bowl in the sink. I did it fast, swift, totally forgetting Vincent behind me.

My tense muscles burned from my aggressive scrubbing and that's when I realized what Vincent had said, _"You're angry and have too much stress."_

It was so very true, in every way possible. I was stressed out beyond belief. My ripped apart fingers stung in the running water.

"Vincent," I said, pumping from soap from the hand wash by the sink. He grunted, like always.

"I need a vacation," I told him, loud and proud, completely willing to show my weakness. I needed to, for once. I had to be weak. I needed to relax. I let out a really loud sigh.

"We all do," and _GOD DAMN IT we were NOT going to Wutai for vacation_.

I nodded dumbly, a weak smile on my face. The soap burned at my wounds. I had forgotten about my knuckles (which were wrapped with gauze.) so the bandages soiled in the water. I sighed, some how enjoying the feeling of cleaning out my fingers. Goodbye, bacteria.

So I wiped off my hands on the paper towels, staining them with a lot of blood and not even bothering to throw them away. (I would never stop being a brat now, after everything that's happened. I left them for Vincent to clean up. _Ilovedhim-)_ My fingers throbbed with swelling and blood but I ignored it. I was going to go tell Cid to change directions. We were going to go a place where we all deserved to go.

I'm sorry, Aerith.

* * *

><p><em>fail.<em>

_Um, you guys...high school is hard. BUT I GOT MY HOMECOMING DRESS. AND I GOT A DATE. (Who is actually my boyfriend.) AND LIFE IS GOOD._

_The only unfortunate thing about my life right now is that I am TOTALLY FAILING with this epilogue. -_- I'm sorry you guys it takes awhile._

_1 chapter to go! Will Yuffie hit a home run? (I will answer this now- no.) Will I get off my ass and do my homework? (also- no!) Will this story ever get a proper ending? (I hope so!)_

_Jeez. Review cuz I love you guise. :3_


	7. Chapter 6

_I'm too tired to write a proper author's note._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER SIX<strong>

I would like to take this time to point out two things:

(It's actually just one thing with two subjects.)

What is Costa Del Sol?

Take a minute and think about it. Think long and hard, because your answer is a big part of the story. Well, it kind of is, not entirely. [Let's also note that I said KIND OF and not KINDA, because I have matured. Like an adult. I drink coffee now. (that was a lie)] But it's a big part of the story during this part.

And what is this part, you ask? I will now tell you what this part is.

Costa Del Sol is a tourist resort. Site. Hotstop. It is not a place in which you live. It is a place you visit momentarily and then you go back to your boring lives. It was created for fun and vacationing.

Now, Wutai, that was a place of honor. Wutai was not someplace where someone can go to have fun, hell, fun wasn't an option to anyone in Wutai unless you work your ass off for it. And even then you have to go through judgment and be shunned until you didn't give a crap anymore and just lived your own life. (That was a one sentence autobiography of my entire life.)

But Wutai was a place where only the good survived and the weak died off or manned the shops. Oh, and the women. The stupid women just stood there and made sushi.

Thank god I'm a _wimpy little girl._

But I'm not wimpy, in any case or scenario. I am a full blown Wutaian raised ninja. That will never change. Even when I'm old and wrinkly, I will kick my grandchildren in the face.

So let's review:

Costa Del Sol is a place for people who want to relax and unwind and have a good time. It is not honorable in anyway except for winning the award for being the least honorable.

Wutai is a place where you can get your butt on a plate served to you before lunch. And also a place where you have to follow every guideline down to the _use the chopsticks with the right hand's index and thumb and promptly-_ and I forgot the rule actually, so it doesn't even matter.

Okay, so, Wutai is cooler than any other place in this entire world. It is better than wherever the hell you grew up and wherever you will go. Costa Del Sol is a sissy beach that has good bars. The end.

That is why I interrupted Cid's sleep induced smoke and told him to turn around. We were going to Costa Del Sol.

It is the complete opposite of Wutai. It makes sense. Admit it.

Cid was angry at first.

"Ya wanna _fuckin' _tell me that you woke me up at _fuckin' one in the mornin' _so you could go see GOD DAMN Aerith," this part was a bit offensive, "and now you want me to turn in the complete other direction so we can go to the retarded resort shit thing," the shit was unnecessary. There is a ton of unnecessary cursing in this story, "and you never even give me a _reason_," he said and I understood his anger. I would have already sliced someone's head off if I was Cid. I was proud of him.

"My reason is," I started, making sure he was paying attention, "that I wanna run away, like we always used to," he was listening now, "and be dangerous. I want to sneak into the Costa Del Sol hotel where Barrett took that massive crap in their bathroom. And where Tifa got really sunburned and Cloud had to rub lotion on her. And where we can all relax. We work too hard, god damn it," and I said those last words normally, slipping off my tongue in a relaxed fashion, never emphasized, "and we just need to party."

"We partied like, two GOD DAMN days ago," and the relaxation was gone.

"This is true. But I did not enjoy it. Therefore we must try again," I told him.

It was silent for a moment and I thought about Vincent back in the kitchen, just standing there, doing nothing. But doing it like a cool person.

"Please?" I said, high pitched and sweetly, "I love you."

Cid bit on his cigarette angrily and awkwardly. His hands spun the steering wheel rapidly, making the Shera turn with insane speeds. I didn't feel sick, I felt okay.

"Don't be all cute now," he growled, "just sit your ass down or go to bed. And I expect some fucking feast in the morning. And ya'll gotta slave over it, too, with ya own two hands. Sweat and tears in those eggs," he spoke.

"I could make you a literal bloody mary. And my blood tastes like Skittles," I said.

"That's just fucking creepy," He said, the Shera finally done turning, and he returned to his usual steering stance.

The sound of boots clanking on the metal floors entered the room. I turned my head to see Vincent peaking from out of the kitchen door.

"We have turned," he said.

I smiled, for once, "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Where are we going to?" and all of his positivity and junk from only moments ago disappeared into the mechanical air. He was still Vincent, though.

"Where the babes run free and the water is aquamarine, my good friend," I told him, my hands on my hips, smiling proudly. He looked at me with what I saw as admiration.

"Costa Del Sol?" He let out, looking the complete opposite of brooding. I think he had that beam inside of him, just like I did.

"Yes," I said, as if this trip was going to change the entire world. As if by going to this beach that all of my worries will go away forever. But you can't run. Well, I can, I can run as fast as I can, forever and ever entire my lungs fall apart, but my father will always be behind me, Amaya right by his side. But I can hide. I can hide better than anyone.

I could hide in the sand and hide in the water. I could hide in the hotel sheets and could hide in Vincent's cloak. I could hide with Vincent, too. I could hide with him in the dark, kissing him until he forgets how to walk. I was going too far, but hell, I liked him. A lot. And I was going to have fun. _Because girls just want to have fun._

Wimpy little girls have responsibilities, too. But I could push them aside until they were staring me in the eyes.

* * *

><p>The sun burst into my eyes when I woke up at seven the next morning, having gone back to sleep after making sure Cid knew what he was doing and Vincent wasn't going to be creeping on me everywhere I go. It had taken me hours to fall back asleep, simply because I couldn't stop myself from staring out my bedside window and thinking about how much farther away I was getting from Wutai every passing second.<p>

I felt sort of sad and guilty for awhile, because Godo was back there, in his little bed, probably thinking about me. I knew he loved me, and I loved him (Duh. He is my dad. I am not heartless.), and I was ripping myself away. It hurt, but not once did I even think about springing out of bed and telling Cid to turn around _again_. I was ready to run away.

My skin tingled at the soft sunlight touching my arm (and that was the most artistic sentence ever.) and I groaned in slight pleasure. It was nice to finally wake up in some place other than Wutai. But I had only been waking up in Wutai for two days. Whatever.

So _now_ I flung the covers off of me, showing my black shorts and white tee-shirt to the world. (AKA my bedroom.) My hair was a huge poof at the top of my head, and when I went to the mirror to fix it, I laughed. Really laughed, for once, happy. Laugh. Happy. Nice. Fun. Beach. Yay.

I shook my head around and slipped into my sneakers, cracking my knuckles while I walked out the door due to habit. The pops of my joints was satisfying.

There was someone in the kitchen, I could deduct that from the sizzling and heavy aroma (What? Smell.) coming that was coming from down the hall. I followed it intensively, drool pooling in my mouth.

_Oh man_, I thought when I reached the end of the hall. My stomach clenched in need and want and out of deliciousness. I needed food, bad. Actual food. Not some stupid Bran Flakes that fill you up for ten minutes. I wanted bacon.

And bacon I got!

"_Tifa!" _I let out, slowly and deeply, almost in shock. She was so round I didn't know how she fit inside of the kitchen. Her stomach kept her a large gap away from the stove but that didn't stop her from poking on the slimy slips of bacon. The sizzles and pops made my stomach continue to grumble.

She didn't turn to me, just flipped over the bacon and opened her mouth, "We needed a vacation," she said.

I let out a sigh, but my shock still ran through my veins. I was silently expecting a loud outburst in anger and refusal from both Tifa and Cloud, and even Barrett (not Marlene, kids love the beach, right?) and Red and everyone except Cid and Vincent. But here she was, going along with everything. She wasn't angry. She was making me bacon. That was a good sign.

My stomach flipped like when I saw Vincent (what a girly thing to say-), "I love you," I droned out, long and deep and thankful. It was so true I loved everyone here more than anything SO MUCH LOVE-

"I love you too, Yuffie," Tifa said, smiling and salting the bacon. I thought of the shrimp I made what seemed like so long ago. That stupid shrimp, mocking me in the face, probably in the waste holding section of the Shera because Tifa must have….

That was unimportant. I was happy she even consumed them. I would have spit them back out immediately.

I missed Attaboy.

"Costa Del Sol will be good for me, good for us," she said, patting her stomach, "Cloud works himself too hard," and she was taking it so easily. And everything she said was true.

_Cloud was working hard?_ Take a look at my fingernails, or my busted hand, or my rubbed away nerves. I was a wreck. I needed the sun and the sand and the comfy hotel beds.

"Thank you….Teefs…," I started and she finally turned around to look at me, a plate of bacon in her hand, "Thank you for understanding why…"

"We all understand why, Yuffie. We aren't ones to just sit back and watch. We've seen you," and _they've seen me_. They haven't just been walking by and caring about only themselves. No one on this ship is careless and without a heart. Vincent and Cloud may have been at one point, but now all of us were connected in so many more ways than one, and we had to look out for each other.

My lips upturned, "I haven't worn my bikini in months," and then I imagined Tifa in a bikini and _baaaahahahahahahaaha_.

"Oh lord," she let out and I don't know what it was about, "I'll have to go swimming in a tee shirt!"

She seemed legitimately horrified by that, her hand shooting up to her mouth and she was seriously beginning to cry until I said, "Wear a white one. Cloud will like that," to which she laughed hysterically and I stole a slice of bacon, shoving it inside of my mouth without hesitation. It was delicious and salty and anything you could ever hope and dream for. It was like unicorns.

So after Tifa stopped laughing and crying and whatever she was doing, she ate some bacon too, complaining about how it was going to make her get fat and I did nothing but choke on my spit and drink a glass of water.

Cloud joined us eventually, not saying a word and munching on a slip of bacon. The sound of crunches and chewing filled the kitchen I had spent so much time in. I finished my slice and reached for a second one, content with the fact that Tifa was berating me for eating with my hands. She was doing it too.

I then noticed that Cid had been flying the ship the entire night. (Well, since one in the morning.) and never stopped. I swallowed my bacon slowly and looked into the hall that led to the command room, trying to hear one of his grunts or spins of the wheel.

My plate was empty. I stood up, leaving the plate for Tifa to watch like a rude child.

I stomped into the command room, arms folded over my chest. I didn't know why I was angry.

"Cid," I said. He shot up from the slumped position, large bags under his eyes. His middle and index finger gripped an unlit cigarette.

"Whaaaat?" He grumbled, slipping back into his slumped position. He was barely gripping the steering wheel.

"You didn't have to do this, ya know," I told him despite last night's….fiasco.

"What are ya talking about? Course' I did," He said but _he said it for all of the wrong reasons_. It wasn't like 'Of course I did Yuffie, because I love you and I'm a nice person with a tender heart,' it was a 'Course I fucking did cause' you woke me up at GOD DAMN one in the morning to go to fuckin' _Costa Del Sol_.'

He said, "Course I fuckin' did cause' you woke me up at GOD DAMN one in the mornin' to go to fuckin' _Costa Del Sol_. But I can't say I'm complainin'."

Score. Last part was a bonus, admit it.

"You wanna see the babes, don't you," he snorted and I grinned, "like me!"

"Not a single part of ya is babe-o-licious," Cid said.

I choked on my spit for the second time that day.

"Cid. You just said-"

"I know what I GOD DAMN said," he said. I refrained from saying anything.

It was silent, until, "How far away are we from….wherever we are going…," the wise and deep voice of Red said from the door. I grinned more and ran over to him, hugging him. I loved Red, did you guys know that?

"We're going to Costa Del Sol, Red, buddy, ole pal!" I exclaimed, gripping the back of his neck in a strange sort of hug. He yelped in displeasure but I didn't stop.

"Enjoy it," I growled quietly into his ear and he obliged. He let me continue hugging him.

"Landin'," Cid said like it was simplest thing in the world.

I gaped. What?

"We're _there already!"_ I shrieked.

"That's what happens when you fly _throughout tha entire night_," he shot back.

My eyes bulged out of my head. I let go of Red, stood up, and shot out of the room. I heard Cid's piercing laugh from behind me.

I ignored them. I ran past Tifa and Cloud in the kitchen, seeing their heads turn to look at me and my awesome speed. It felt good to turn down the curves quickly and swiftly, the momentum building up behind me. I breathed deep, sprinting down at all of my might and stopped abruptly at the bedroom door. I kicked it open with my foot the moment I stopped.

I needed to feel like a ninja. (And that just felt like a scene from _Naruto-)_

My drawer almost broke when I dug through it, searching for something I had brought along with me for this tiny weeny thought that I had in the back of my mind that was finally becoming a reality.

I threw shirts and shorts and _pants_ and miniature training bras around the room until I reached my treasure. Grinning devilishly, I pulled out my one and only dark green (quite small) bikini. The cups were so small Marlene could wear them and the bottom was held together by only string but _god damn it_ was wearing that bikini if it kills me.

So I got naked. And then I got un-naked by putting on a bikini.

I was wearing a bikini and I looked good. So I decided to go show it to Vincent.

Smirking, I exited my room in only a string bikini (bikini! Bikini! BIKINI!) and orange sneakers. I walked down the halls getting glares from the female workers (pansies) and _looks_ from the male ones. (Nerds.)

When I reached Vincent's room I didn't stop myself from kicking open his door. I brought my foot up (a really stupid thing to do in a STRING BIKINI) and released it in a quick jolt of energy, bringing the door loose from its hinges and invading Vincent's privacy like bitches do.

Once again, my ninja way: Do it like a Bitch.

Vincent jumped up from his bed in a very un-Vincent like way, looking at my normally for 2.3 seconds and then looking at me like I was the _sexiest thing he's ever laid eyes one_. Bring it, Lucrecia.

"Get your beach on," I said and by that I meant 'take off your shirt.'

"Have we arrived?" he said after an extremely long silence oh awkwardness filled with him being awkward and looking at my bare stomach and toned abs and he probably wasn't doing that at all.

"No. I want you to get your beach on in the Shera."

"There is no need for sarcasm," and right when he shot back-

"THERE IS WHEN WE ARE AT A VACATION RESORT," I screamed, for no real reason. Barrett slammed his arm on the wall next to us and said nothing.

And just like that, he put his fingers on the rim of his shirt and pulled it over him head while he was in bed and it was like a porn film. I was almost expecting him to be like _nooo Yuffie come join me in bedded_ but that never happened.

He was so gorgeous shirtless.

I was afraid there was going to be nothing underneath his bed sheets so I turned away, only to hear him let out a low chuckle and stand up.

"I don't have swimming trunks," and I let out a strange, "pppppffffttcchhh," in a sort of laughing manner. I didn't reply and stepped out into the hall, looking down both sides to see some workers and Marlene.

I opened my mouth, "Cloud!" I screeched, "Let Vincent borrow some of your…," I paused, "Board shorts," I said. That sounded cooler than…trunks. Trunks are where you store your groceries and dead people.

Cloud didn't reply and I didn't bother to wait for one, let alone walk down the hall and ask (force) him again.

I turned back around, "It has been settled."

"Yuffie," He said and I smiled.

"Go with the flow for once, _please_. Just have some fun. You need a tan," I told him. His skin was too creamy.

He grunted, still sitting in his bed like a little kid. He gripped his sheets.

It then hit me. Normally, Vincent would have gotten out of bed by now and probably would have left to go eat or something and probably would have actually had swim trunks. But none of those things happened. He was still sitting in bed, tense.

"O-Ooooh," I started, my eyes wide, "Wait…what?"

"Um," Vincent said.

"Why do you have a shirt but not…"

"Yuffie, leave."

Durrr hurr what? I was confused too, you guys! I didn't know why he went to bed with a shirt on but no pants! Was he doing the nasty? With Cid? With Red? With himself? Who knew! I certainly didn't.

But I had kicked open his door and promptly _kicked the shit out of it_ (broke it) and when I tried to close it, it fell off of its hinges, leaving me holding an entire door with my left hand. I could have picked it up if I wanted to.

I echoed him, "Um."

It was silent.

"Good thing you have a bathroom!"

Vincent was left with no privacy. Because of me. I laughed quite loudly.

"I am not apologizing," I told him. He gripped his sheets tighter.

Vincent was lying in his bed without any pants and was going to have to make a mad dash totally naked into his bathroom. His dignity and pride would be thrown out the window.

He hadn't said anything in awhile.

"Well. I don't really know what's going on right now," and that was extremely true, "So I'm gonna go."

I turned around, Vincent's entire bedroom door in front of me, towering over me and nearly knocking me down. It wasn't knocking me down because it was heavy; it was knocking me down because it was at least two feet taller than me. It was actually quite light.

"Ey, Cloudey," I let out, loud enough for him to hear me from the kitchen, "I need some board shorts."

* * *

><p>Turns out, Cid never found about the door. The workers replaced it (I had bribed them with gil. A whole gil.) in a span of <em>five hours<em> and by the time we were back from our amazing day at the beach, Vincent had regained his privacy. (But not his pride.)

I got Cloud's girliest board shorts from him on purpose because I'm terrible and mean. They weren't girly in anyway, but they were dark green and had little Hawaiian flowers on them and the only reason I got them was because they matched my BIKINI!

I had to throw them into Vincent's bathroom with my eyes closed, because by the time I went back to his room he had escaped to the confines of the….said room. So I _didn't_ kick open the door than time, just flung it open and then flung in his pants. He didn't even say anything. Not even a thank you.

We were all outside by the time he came out (Cid had landed the ship, like, twenty minutes beforehand.), sipping at some sodas (I forced them to wait until five to get alcohol. My friends just loved getting wasted.) and basking in the sun.

Atleast, _I_ was. Tifa was in a _huge_ white tee-shirt and a black bikini underneath that she barely fit into. And Cloud was wearing boring black shorts. His legs were painfully pale.

Barrett had just discarded his mesh shirt and vest, jumping into the ocean with his regular shorts still on. I placed twenty gil that he was gonna get a huge rash on his man parts and would be loudly complaining about it for the rest of the night.

Red was normal. Cait was normal. Stupid animals.

Marlene had a neon pink one piece with flowers and frills. I laughed and pointed until Tifa smacked me upside the head for the umpteenth time.

Cid…..Cid was a laughingstock. He had blue swimming shorts on and no shirt and he _was getting old._ His chest was all hairy! It was so gross! It was furry and blonde and his shorts were too blue and ugh. I love you Cid but-

Vincent was so sexy. The end.

I gaped when he emerged from the airship. He was so tall and the shorts fit perfectly, his chiseled chest _almost_ dripping with sweat from the heat, his chiseled legs almost breaking from all of the sexy and his chiseled face looking angry. That was a turn off.

I took a huge sip from my soda, "Lehgo."

"What?" They had all said.

I coughed, "Let's go. Lettuce leaf."

Tifa laughed. It was awkward. I wanted to go swimming already, please.

So we all walked past the hotel, except for Cloud who stepped in to make a reservation for eight people. He should have just bought out the entire hotel.

We had brought towels, a large amount of them. They were soft and cuddly and mine had a green and white pattern on them. I liked green.

I looked to Vincent. Yeah, I liked green.

After Barrett, I was the second in the water, setting down my towel and almost running in with my sneakers on. Luckily, Tifa was in mommy mode and stopped me before I ruined them. I didn't even go back; I just kicked them off and threw them at Cid's head.

Barrett was floating with his stomach facing the sun and arms folding behind his head. He groaned in pleasure.

"I love whoe'er came up with this idea," he said slowly, his armpit hair almost touching my face. I stared at it.

"That would be me," I said. That sent him into some sort of shock and he flopped upwards to stand up. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that well, duh, my voice matched my face. (Who else has this amazing voice?)

"You!" He exclaimed, obviously surprised, "You're tha one who came up with this? I thought ya'd be furious bout leaving Wutai!" I didn't talk to Barrett much, did I?

"Um," I let out, just like that morning, "Well…ya see..," and then I went underwater quickly, wetting my dark hair and swimming away like a frog. I kicked my legs until I was far enough away to make him laugh but not freak out.

When I popped out, I wiped the water from my eyes and saw that Red was doggy paddling out into the ocean and Cid was already b Barrett, handing him Marlene. (She had beat him there.)

Marlene was then thrown around like a fucking basketball by her father and fell into the ocean. I laughed.

I swam back over, joining the group of men and nine year old children.

"Cid!" I shrieked like I always shrieked and propelled myself from the bottom of the ocean onto his back. Costa Del Sol's water was clear as toilet water so I wasn't surprised when Barrett knew where I was.

"ARRGGH! What the-" but I dunked him underwater before he could curse.

When he reemerged, I was still on his back and he was holding me up. It was like we were playing chicken.

"Ey, Marlene, get on your dad's back," I told her, gesturing to Barrett's shoulders and huge muscles. She would surely fit. The buster sword would surely fit.

She furrowed her brow, "Why?" She asked in a whiney high pitched voice that was painfully similar to my own.

"Because I _want to kick your ass," _I said, "…..in chicken." It was revenge for the shower incident. I had a grudge, okay?

"Yuffie!" Cid and Barrett exclaimed in unison.

I ignored them and looked to my side, having a good view on Cid's shoulders. I was surprised he didn't shake me off by then.

Vincent, Cloud, Cait, and Tifa were all still on shore, Cloud setting up the umbrella and Tifa setting sandwiches up from the cooler. Vincent was just standing there, hands folded over his chest. Cait was digging a hole.

I cupped my hands over my mouth, "Vinny! Get your booty over here!" I screeched and the rest of the tourists looked at me. Some cute guy a couple yards away from us was glaring at us funny. I pointed at him and laughed. His face was all scrunched up!

Did Vincent know how to swim?

"_EY! Vinny, ya know how t-"_ But he was already wading in and pushing past all of the other swimmers angrily. It was a humorous sight.

When he got over to us (Red was left behind, he was too short and went back to help Cait dig a hole.) he looked at me on Cid's shoulders and his eyes narrowed. He was jealous. Tehehehe.

"I wanna play chicken!" Marlene yelled from next to her father, her hands in little fists. Barrett, somehow, gave me this look that practically said 'Hurt my daughter and die,' but Marlene didn't know what pain was so I didn't know what to do.

Now, me, I knew what pain was. We all did.

So we played chicken. We played it hard and long and I punched Marlene in the face but she didn't cry. She just punched me back. And Cid screamed at me to punch harder and shake her off, and Marlene was choking her father with her legs. And Vincent was laughing, loudly. It made me smile.

My legs were slippery against Cid's also wet shoulders and I felt myself slipping. Marlene's tiny hands were in my hair by then and mine were tempted to pull down her one piece (I was MONKEY D. YUFFIE.) to distract her and push her off, but my ears were too enchanted by Vincent's laughter. I wanted to hear that sound for the rest of my life-

I fell.

My legs were sideways and my body was twisting to the side. My arms left Marlene's shoulders and they flopped to my side. I gasped and my back arched until I was somehow completely sideways from Cid, but my legs still around his neck. I was upside down, my back almost touching the water.

Almost.

Vincent caught me.

His arms were on my shoulders and he was propping me up (albeit in a very uncomfortable position.) so I didn't fall. The only things in the water were the longest strands of my hair. I looked up at him.

He was always going to be there, wasn't he?

I smiled at him and let my legs fall from Cid, allowing myself to fall correctly into his arms. He caught me better that time, like a groom holds his newlywed bride. He picked me up like a prince would.

"W-what are you doing..?" I asked him shock when he began to pull me up towards him. He was going to kiss me in front of everyone?

And then he dropped me.

I welcomed the cold water with a huge hug, and when I immediately sprang back up, I didn't even breathe. I just slapped him hard of the shoulder and told him he can go die.

But he couldn't. Ever. He'd _always be there._ And that's all I ever wanted and asked for.

So instead of Cid's, I climbed on top of his shoulders. His broad, muscular shoulders held my own petite body and everyone looked at us. I was prepared. The questions they were going to ask didn't scare me.

Cid coughed and looked to the side, "Finally."

The face- O.O returned once again and I realized that they all could probably tell that we were madly in love with each other. Or something of the sort.

I felt Vincent tense from underneath me. That sounded like a sex scene.

He coughed. I coughed. It was awkward.

Luckily, we had an obnoxious nine year old girl on our side, who still on her father's shoulders grabbed my hair once again. This made me lock my legs around Vincent's neck and hold on for dear life.

Vincent grabbed my shins and held me firmly, like good boyfriends-

Hehehehehehehehe. That word made me giggle.

"GO BACK TO PRE-SCHOOL," I roared and grabbed Marlene's shoulders, promptly _picking her up_ off of Barrett's shoulders and throwing her into the air. It was like I had super strength.

I chucked her into the water and she screamed (along with her father) as she flew head first into the water. She hit the surface with a splat and bubbled came up after she sunk to the bottom.

"O-h. Ohohohohohoo shit. Is she dead?" I asked, looking down at Vincent like he knew all of the answers.

"Fuckin' ninja," and I couldn't tell if Barrett or Cid said that because they're all so GOD DAMN similar!

Thankfully, Marlene popped back up, totally drenched and utterly defeated. Seeing her upset and feeling like a loser made me happy and-

What was becoming of me?

I shook it off and clapped my hands together victoriously. Take that, five year old.

"I'm _nine!" _was the first thing she said, exasperatedly. I laughed and pointed at her.

"Ahahahahahahaha!" I let out, "Barrett. Tell your daughter to stop lying!"

I was in a really, really weird mood. I was so happy.

Soon enough, Tifa and Cloud ventured out towards us and I dared Tifa to a battle of chicken to which Cloud said _no god no_ and I thanked him for that. If she fell on top of me, I would be crushed. Litterally.

But I did convince Cid to climb on top of Barrett! And that was freaking hilarious. I was beaten in a span of five seconds, but I was okay with that, because it allowed for Vincent to crouch down and help me back up. I even kissed his cheek in the middle of it.

I was such a girl!

_I was such a girl, you guys._

I finally reached what I wanted. I had those butterflies frolicking around in my stomach happily and they wouldn't leave until I died. And even now, when I'm writing this, (for some god-known reason. My children better read this.) they're still fluttering because I see him, right there, he's right next to me right now. And he hasn't left since that day at the beach-

Back to the present. No, wait. The past.

I never got off if his shoulders, I played with his hair and made jokes with him and laughed and giggled and it was so fun. I didn't think about Wutai once while we were in the water, not until it was sunset and the sky was purple.

I looked at my hands, "I have prune hands," I whispered to Vincent, who was still underneath me. Tifa and Cloud were back on shore, eating sandwiches in the romantic lighting. And Barrett had taken Marlene out to dinner because, ya know, they need daddy and daughter bonding time and crap.

Cid fell asleep on his towel around two, so he was a nice shade of pink on his back and ghostly pale on this face and stomach. He was still sleeping. Cait and Red had left after they realized they couldn't and didn't know how to swim, so it was just Vincent and I. I didn't know why I was whispering.

His stomach growled. My fingers were wrinkling. It was the ever-present sign that that day was over.

So without saying anything, I slipped from his shoulders and sunk my then dry bathing suit into the ocean. It was colder, I had noticed, due to the sun being gone.

"Hurry!" I shrieked, almost mockingly, "The sharks are out."

He just hummed in some sort of laughter and followed me as I ran out of the ocean, my body slowly rising out of the water, giving him a good view of my sexy bod. It was true. He loved it.

I stopped by Cloud, Tifa, and Cid who was totally unconscious.

Tifa said that the whole hotel was rented out (Because, jesus, that thing had three beds and a bathroom. And it wasn't even a separate room if I remember correctly. At least they had a pool table. ) so we could just walk in. We could just walk in_ anywhere_ because we were sorta famous. Anywhere we go it's "HOLY MONKEY BALLS IT'S CLOUD STRIFE!" and then, "Oh yeah and those other people," except for Tifa who was "HOLY MONKEY BALLS SHE'S SEXY."

Sigh. That was our life in a sentence. How sad.

So it was almost dark when we were walking back to the hotel and I looked around to see if I saw anyone I knew. The coast was clear.

"What I am about to do is very dangerous and should not be tried at home," I whispered to him, leaning. His eyes shot to me, questionably.

"Stay calm and try not to make any sudden noises," I said again, shooting my eyes around the vicinity to check one last time for other life forms. And then, very slowly, I slipped my hand into his. It fit perfectly, like a missing puzzle piece, and everything felt right.

I sighed in happiness.

"This day was great," I said when he didn't say anything. He was being _unusually_ silent.

It was unusual, now, for him to not even say the simplest things. He was having conversations now, full ones, with meaning and thought, and I was so happy. I was so happy all of the time because of him.

He hummed and lightly squeezed my hand. My heart fluttered.

When we reached the hotel, I almost felt like I was a newlywed bride who was going to her honeymoon suite. He opened the door with his free hand, never breaking our grasp. He tugged me into the hotel room to find it empty. Barrett and Marlene had dumped their stuff on the bed they were to share, but other than that, there were no signs of life.

I pulled Vincent into the bedroom and knocked on the bathroom door to make sure Barrett wasn't using the bathroom to the….extent that he did last time we were here.

"That was….disgusting," I said, recalling that incident. I let out a giggle, missing our times of adventures. They were so much fun…

This day was so much fun…

"Thank you…," I whispered to him when I felt him behind me. His arms wrapped around me in some sort of hug.

"I couldn't do all of this if it was for you," and that was the absolute truth. He was the one who was always there always always always. And it wasn't almost or maybe or kinda. I was positive. I was positive in everything I was saying.

So, without any hesitation, I breathed, "I love you."

* * *

><p>He had kissed me. And it wasn't a Pokémon battle this time, it was sweet and soft and loving. He whispered nothing but a simple, "hmm," and kissed me like he loved me back.<p>

I grabbed the sides of his face and closed my eyes in bliss. He pushed my against the bathroom door, holding my hips, and kissing me softly. When he broke away for air I took in a huge gulp of it and went back to his lips, simply because I had been waiting for this moment since Attaboy. All I had wanted was him, this entire time.

"Thank you so much," I cried, soft tears slipping down my face. He didn't wipe them away, just raised his hands to place one on my cheek on the other on my waist. My own hands wrapped around his neck.

I owed it all to him.

It continued on like this for awhile, me crying, my tears eventually reaching our intertwined lips and creating some sort of salty sensation. He didn't stop. I wondered if he noticed.

It may have gone farther, I don't remember. I had kicked off my sneakers and placed my hands on his bare chest and I was only in a bikini.

But all that mattered was that we were there, in that moment.

Eventually, we made it to a bed, and I took a moment to grab a tee-shirt from my bag, simply because I didn't want someone to barge in a see me in a bikini making out with a guy. That guy being Vincent Valentine.

_I was making out with Vincent Valentine-_

This is ruining the moment. This was so unlike our past kiss and this was so so so much better.

We stopped soon enough, because I got hungry and pulled out a box of cheese crackers from my bag. And I curled up on our bed and munched on them quietly, handing some to Vincent even though he said he didn't want any. But he took them and I sat crisscross applesauce on the sheets while Vincent' sat with his legs off of the edge and I laughed and talked.

My lips were swollen.

After drinking some water from the bathroom and brushing my teeth quickly, I sprinted out of the bathroom and jumped on top of the bouncy bed, looked at the clock, and crawled underneath the covers.

"I smell like ocean," I whispered from underneath the sheets, pulling the blankets up to my nose. I eyed from my position.

He leaned over me and sniffed my hair sorta romantically. I smiled.

"I don't care," he said for the first time since the ocean and I sighed. Life was good, wasn't it, you guys?

My heart thumped when he gently wrapped his arms around me and I turned my body to face his chest. We didn't whisper soft words to each other or talk about how much we were in love. We just slept with each other, but in the complete opposite way. I preferred it like that.

He smelled like ocean, too, and his long hair outdid my short strands. His muscles outdid my lean ones. I felt so small next to him.

They let me sleep (in the most innocent meaning of the phrase) with him, our eyes closed, and I felt like I was flying away from everything.

My wings picked me up off the ground and softly and surely I flew away, waving goodbye to my father.

* * *

><p><em>The end.<em>

_(there is an epilogue...it just has to be written.)_

_(let the hate mail commence.)_


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